Interstellar: Revivisco, Part I
by MargaretHobbs
Summary: "Are you ready, Cooper?" TARS asked. Cooper smiled at the thought of being reunited. "TARS, you have no idea." CHAPTERS 1-3 NOW REVISED.
1. Chapter 1: Adventus

**Readers, this is a revised/enhanced version of my original chapter. I'm going through and working on early chapters to make them better!**

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 1 - Adventus

"TARS, what are the coordinates for Edmunds' planet?" Cooper asked, as he strapped into the ship. This ship was small, but surprisingly had everything that they would need for the trip.

"I have them locked in, Cooper. This craft can exceed the speed of light by an unbelievable amount. No doubt thanks to Murphy." TARS stopped, letting Cooper mull over that idea. "Also, this ship appears to emit a sleeping gas that serves the same purpose as a cryo pod. You're probably going to want to go down for about a year. For Brand, the amount of time it takes for you to leave here and get to her planet will be about a week. Based on the time that you left her to the point of your arrival upon her planet, she will have been on the planet, alone for about 35 days, 3 hours, and 53 minutes."

"Damn, TARS, you're certainly precise," Cooper chuckled, pulling his helmet on. "Major Tom has nothing on us, does he?" The robot lit up, appearing to have liked that comment.

"Taken your protein pills yet?" TARS asked, continuing the joke.

"Okay, TARS, are you ready? As soon as we go, you tell me when to go to sleep and you wake me up once we're 14 hours out from Brand's, alright?" Cooper had never been more ready to leave anywhere in his life. This station just didn't feel right – the tin sound when you walked, and the 'outside' as they called it just wasn't ideal. Murph, in all her intelligence and creativity had created this ark for humanity to survive on, but Cooper was sure that it was no substitute for Earth, and nothing ever really would be, in his opinion. Soon, the shuttle began to move toward an air-locked room, allowing for a safe takeoff.

"Are you ready, Captain Cooper?" TARS asked. Cooper smiled.

"Why'd no one ever call me that before?," he asked, looking out into space as the doors opened. "TARS, you have no idea just how ready I am."

Amelia Brand was alone out there, the only person she thought she might have left, dead, but she wouldn't be alone for too much longer. How had Murph known Edmunds was gone. She'd said Brand was alone - how did she know?

"Let's do this."

* * *

"CASE, I can't do this," Amelia exclaimed as she turned away from the rubble. "You've got to dig him out. I don't want to see him like this. Not now, or maybe ever, I can't. Take pictures, but don't show them to me anytime soon; take them and save them just incase I ever decide that I'm strong enough." The robot blinked. Amelia was crying again, clutching her helmet to her chest like a pillow, leaning down into it.

"Yes, Dr. Brand. No problem." Amelia fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "Don't you't you think that maybe you should go on the ship and sleep?" She nodded in disagreement.

"I'm not getting the in the cryo-pod, CASE. I can't do that – not now," she replied, wiping her eyes. _He's only trying to protect me.  
_  
"No, not in the cryo-pod, I was referring to actual sleep, Dr. Brand. I think it would be a good idea to rest for a bit." CASE, while a robot, was certainly kind.

"You're right, CASE. Thank you." She walked back toward her ship, ready for a nice, real nap.

* * *

Cooper was suddenly awake, blinking and coughing.

"Rise and shine, Princess," he heard TARS say. "We're 14 hours out from Dr. Brand's planet. Due to our proximity to Brand, time on the ship is now passing just the same as time on her planet. You've got enough of a stretch to make yourself look presentable." Cooper was still coughing, eyes now open.

"What's that humor setting at, TARS?" The robot laughed, causing Coop to laugh in response as he stretched his arms.

"I'm just being honest, Cooper. You don't want to look unkempt. It's the first time you've seen a woman anywhere near your age in a while." Even though it was said in jest, the sentence felt like a weight on his chest. He was 125 now.

"How old is Brand now, anyway, in Earth years?" Cooper unbuckled himself from the seat, stretching his legs.

"She is, in Earth years, 119. If she ever gets to Cooper Station, I'm sure they'll be dying to know what anti-aging cream she's using." TARS was priceless. "Assuming that she is indeed alone, you'll be the only man on this planet, and she'll be the only woman there so I'm just guessing-" Cooper cut him off.

"Ah, TARS, not now," he interrupted, straightening up, trying to get his legs used to moving again. "Sorry, just being honest." That made him think of Brand.

"Okay, Cooper. Maybe next time we can have a heart to heart." Cooper was sure he'd be having lots of heart to hearts with TARS, if he was to guess. "Old age catching up to you, Cooper?" Cooper hadn't laughed like that since he locked onto the Endurance, and that laughter was laughter of sheer relief.

"At 125, I guess it is."

* * *

"Dr. Brand, I'm detecting a shuttle of some sort about ten hours time from here," CASE stated, running toward Amelia. She shot up from her desk, eyes wide.

"Are you sure?" Was this real? Had people come from Earth or was it 'them'? Maybe it was 'them' just passing by; they weren't going to land. Or was she not actually hearing the words she thought CASE had said?

"I'm positive. What do you want to do in preparation?" What did she want to do? She didn't know if these beings were friendly, arriving in peace, or if they had detected her on what they considered to be their territory and were there to destroy her.

"As much as I would like to hope for the best, prepare for the worst, CASE. Gather every weapon we have, okay? We'll set up a camp of some sort in the shelter. I'm going to place a probe outside so you can watch the arrival from in here. Record every bit of it – if I die, I want someone – or something to see this someday. Heck, even if I survive, it will be worth watching." She ran toward her weapon supply, full of odd-looking guns that she really didn't know how to use. _Please_, she thought, _don't kill me._

* * *

"Ready to land, TARS?" Cooper asked, looking down at the planet. It looked shockingly similar to Earth. "It looks like we're about to enter the atmosphere." TARS locked into position.

"Once we are three-fifths of the way down, I will deploy landing gear, Cooper." Cooper locked on his helmet for what felt like the millionth time.

"I'm strapped in everywhere, TARS." Cooper double-checked his various buckles and hooks. _ Brand, you better be alive_.

* * *

"We'll be entering the atmosphere in approximately two minutes." Cooper was only two minutes away from hopefully seeing Dr. Brand in good health and happy to see him. Knowing her, she might throw something at him, but after she got the anger out, maybe she'd be happy that he was there.

Edmunds wasn't alive, so that had to be rough on her. Cooper knew that Dr. Brand's biggest wish was to be with Edmunds again, but she hadn't been that fortunate. Everyone had lost lives and loves on this journey, all in the name of securing a future for the human race.

Here Amelia Brand was, alone, with only a robot for company, and Cooper had more or less been in somewhat of the same boat.

* * *

"Dr. Brand, the shuttle has breached the atmosphere." Amelia looked forward at the wall, writing the information down and the time of entry into the planet's area of control.

"Okay, so they'll be landing within the next bit," she said to herself, continuing to write. CASE was recording the data, no doubt, but just to keep her sanity in check, she wrote.

She had decided that what can happen will happen, and she was ready for the worst.

* * *

"Cooper, we'll be landing in just a few minutes." Cooper looked out the window, too in awe of what was about to happen to even respond as he usually did. He was hopefully going to see Dr. Brand again. He knew she had to be alive – he could feel it, almost like he had felt Murph's soul across galaxies, pulling him in.

"Want a countdown?" He smirked, bringing him out of his daze.

"Start at 30 seconds, TARS," he replied, "I'm not up to too mud anxiety." TARS took note. Cooper closed his eyes as he thought of what was next.

* * *

Dr. Brand could feel the ship's landing, the whole shelter shaking. "What's the situation, CASE?" CASE didn't respond immediately, causing more fear to rise within her.

"Dr. Brand, there's a NASA logo on the shuttle." Relief fell over her – humans. _Humans are here!_ She wasn't going to be alone. "The door on the shuttle is opening."

Amelia was beyond excited. "How many people are getting off the ship, CASE?" The bot, once again, did not respond immediately. "CASE?" she asked, knocking on the side of the robot.

"Dr. Brand," CASE said, pausing as if to take a breath.

"Yes?" Amelia was counting each second.

"It's Cooper."


	2. Chapter 2: Coniungentur

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 2 - Coniungentur

"Well, I'll be damned. Doesn't look half bad here, does it TARS?" It looked like it was possibly cold, but Cooper could care less, excited to put his feet on rock again. "And that must be her camp." There sure were a lot of tents for her to be the only one there. _Maybe he is alive. _He knew he'd have to learn to live and deal with it.

"Cooper, the air quality here is quite hospitable. The oxygen levels are ideal and the temperature is reasonable, so you could take your helmet off if you would like." This was real, live oxygen – not something bottled up like what they had on the ship or at Cooper Station. He immediately reached for the latches, taking the helmet off quickly. Cooper took a deep breath.

"Let's go find Dr. Brand, whatya say?"

* * *

"What?" Had she heard that right? Cooper? "Are you sure?" CASE seemed to be scanning again.

"Yes, Dr. Brand. He's approaching the shelter right now." Amelia acted quick, jumping up from her spot and trying to turn the wheel that opened the thick metal safe door.

"Come on, CASE, help me here!" _With CASE, it shouldn't take long_, she thought.

How was this even possible? She'd seen him go into Gargantua – there was no coming back from a black hole. Was CASE finally hallucinating like she was sure she was about to do? The door was finally open enough that she could slither out into the open to make sure that CASE wasn't playing some sick joke.

"Brand!" she heard, turning toward the voice. There he was, running toward her.

"Cooper," she whispered in disbelief.

* * *

"Brand!" he yelled as soon as he saw her. He could barely make her out, but he could tell from the dark, short hair that it was her. "Brand!" he yelled again when she hadn't responded. He was now close enough to see her face, and she didn't look happy, or sad.

She looked right through him, it seemed. "I'm here." He pulled her in for a hug. He didn't think Brand was the hugging type, but he sure was.

"You're here," she whispered. She slid her arms around his neck and he heard her sniffle. "You're here." She began to sob.

Cooper should have expected this to happen, but he didn't prepare for it.

"Yeah, I am. I'm here Brand." He held her tighter and wished he didn't have this space suit on so he could feel her without the gloves.

She pulled back, hands on his shoulders, looking at him. "How?" She stopped to wipe away her tears. "You fell through Gargantua. How-" She began to sob again, and Cooper embraced her tighter.

"Shhhh. We're alright." Should he say everything would be okay? He couldn't guarantee that to her, and right now Dr. Brand could only handle absolute truths, he was sure.

"You're here," she whispered again.

_Does she think I'm a ghost_, he thought. Everything, he realized, added up for him to be dead and she no doubt had probably thought him to be dead since he let her go.

"You're here." she repeated, gripping the back of his shoulders. She continued to sob, beyond thankful that she was no longer alone. She felt his hold on her tighten too, as if to assure her that this wasn't some sick game her mind was playing on her.

"I'm here," he whispered. She felt his breath on her ear, a sensation that she didn't even realize she had missed until she experienced it again. He held her like that until she quit sobbing.

She tried to gather herself and continued to wipe the tears away. "Why?" she asked. He smiled, that goofy look coming to his face; it seemed to happen often.

"I couldn't leave you out here alone, now could I?" She mouthed 'no' and looked at him just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"Thank you," she said, her voice gaining stability. "I didn't know how I was going to make it here by myself. I've been telling myself in the mirror, out loud, that I'd make it, eventually having someone to talk to; you know, those fertilized eggs in there aren't for nothing. Plan B was actually Plan A... I should have known."

Coop put a hand on her shoulder. "I just," she began to tear up again. "I'm sorry for not being more composed."

"No need to apologize. It's natural." She led him into her living unit, a glorified camping tent if he'd ever seen one. There appeared to be a few rooms, obviously not fancy in the slightest – everything based on utility, much like the shuttles.

"Where were you? I mean, how are you even alive?" She sat down, motioning for him to sit across from her. "You should be dead... no offense."

* * *

He smirked, leaning back into the chair as he watched her smile, her full lips on display in the most flattering way.

"I don't even have the words to describe the experience." _I watched my elderly child die. My house was turned into a museum, glorifying my brilliant daughter. I had tons of grandkids and great-grandkids that I never really even got the chance to meet._ _They celebrate your life and my life there, acknowledging us as pioneers. Kids write papers about the Endurance in school.  
_  
"Well, when you get the words, enlighten me." She realized that his journey had to be rough, probably emotional. If he had a NASA shuttle he had to have seen someone. "How did you know I made it here, Cooper?"

Now he felt like crying. He wasn't going to start crying because then she'd cry again, and they'd never stop.

"Um," he took a deep breath, "Murph told me." Brand's eyes got huge. She smiled again.

"Oh, wow, Cooper! You saw Murphy! That's amazing!" He nodded, his face expressionless. "I'll quit prying, I swear."

"You're not prying, Brand, but Murph is dead now. I saw her right before she died." Amelia couldn't imagine how that had to have felt.

"I'm 125 years old now," he stated, trying to take the focus off of Murph. "You're 119, according to TARS." She looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

"Cooper..." She looked at him in awe. "I'm so sorry." He saw a single tear roll down her cheek. "We had no idea, did we? No idea of what we were getting ourselves into. We lost so much and for what? For you not to see your children during practically their entire lifespans? I didn't even get to be with my father, the man who raised me, when he died. Was it worth it, Cooper?" She looked at him with pleading eyes.

He wanted to believe that it was, and that for some unexplainable reason everything that could have happened did happen, and it happened to save humanity. "I hope so." She had stopped crying again, desperately trying to control herself.

"You should have stayed," she said, her voice stern and solid. "You undoubtedly had some family left there. You could be helping a team there find their way here." He was shocked at what he was hearing. She had gone from crying tears of joy, to tears of sadness, and then she told him that it would have been better if he had stayed.

"What? I couldn't leave you here to fend for yourself. That wouldn't be right." His eyes pleaded with hers to reason.

"You already left me once and I made it here, didn't I?" He would never figure out how to read this woman, and while technically he'd known her for decades, they'd spent what felt like a few months together. "You abandoned me and I survived."

"You survived? Amelia, it's been 30-something days here for you! I came back because once I found out Edmunds was dead, I knew that you had to be in misery, and I couldn't fathom leaving you out here in this unknown world to die!" he nearly yelled, watching her every small movement. "And I feel guilty, even now, for letting you go but I was trying to give you your best chance."

She stood up, and walked over to him, causing him to stand up, as well. "Your decision was irresponsible beyond belief, even for you!" He stared down at her, her eyes swollen from all the crying that had occurred within the past hour. "You obviously had to do something tremendous to get through a black hole and live to tell the tale, and then instead of helping NASA with your knowledge, you just hop in one of their shuttles, '_Oh, hey, I think I'll take this for a little spin_,' and leave!"

He closed his eyes, bringing a hand to his forehead.

"I couldn't bear the thought of you out here alone," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "I left Murph and Tom alone, and I couldn't do it over. I couldn't leave you out here." He looked at her again, before feeling her hand blow across his face. "Amelia," he whispered, holding his cheek. She began to cry again and ran toward what he assumed was her sleeping quarters.

He heard the door click, indicating that she had locked the door. "Sweet Jesus." Cooper broke down, too.


	3. Chapter 3: Novae Terrae

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 3 - Novae Terrae

"TARS, why are women so emotional?" Well, why were they? He had never met a woman who never let her guard down... until Brand. He walked in the sunlight, creating a path for himself. He really would have liked to have asked _w__hy is Brand being so over-emotional_, but he felt it better not to ask.

"Women are no more emotional than men, Cooper, men simply have more social stipulations against showing emotion than what women do. I can sense from your various moods throughout the day that you experience varying levels of fear, excitement, and sadness. She's feeling those same things." 'She' being Dr. Brand, obviously.

"Well, it's been four days and she still won't talk to me. I've attempted a conversation on multiple occasions, you've seen me, and I thought I was just doing the right thing. If I was stuck out here, I'd want someone to come find me." Cooper looked around at the mountains, deciding he would climb one – he had nothing else to do right now.

"TARS, wanna go on a walk?" He knew that TARS couldn't say no.

"Sure, Cooper." TARS followed behind him, eventually catching up. "Cooper, did you ever think that maybe Amelia didn't think she needed a white knight?" He stopped in his tracks, looking up at the mountain, refusing to turn and look at TARS. The robot could already sense his emotions, he didn't need to see them on his face too.

"I haven't been trying to save her, just keep the both of us from going insane, and since when did she become Amelia?" They continued to walk again at a much slower pace.

"Well, I do believe that 'Amelia' has been her name since bir-" Cooper interrupted him, throwing his hand up.

"You know what I mean, TARS." The robot made some noise that Cooper knew wasn't a spoken word, some kind of mechanical thing that usually happened when TARS was looking for the just-right words. Most of the time it only happened when TARS knew that he was particularly vulnerable.

"That's her name, Coop. Might as well use it. You'll be out here alone with her for who knows how long," TARS said. "Would you like me to notify CASE to have her begin calling you 'Joseph'?" Coop smiled to himself, shaking his head.

"Please, no. No one has actually called me that since my dad died, unless I was at the bank or at the doctor, and I don't think I look like a Joseph, do you? Too proper if you ask me." TARS didn't respond and Cooper assumed it was out of agreement. "Well, TARS, you ready?"

* * *

"Where is TARS, CASE?" She hadn't seen Cooper all day. Not that she had talked to him, but she hadn't seen him.

"From my detectors, I believe that _they're_ on that mountain in the west."

"On the mountain?" What would they be doing up there? Amelia looked to the mountain, the one she saw every day. _Typical Cooper, feeling the need to explore beyond the limits. _"But he doesn't have any protective equipment. He doesn't know what could be up there." Animals, infectious insects only found in the forest – something she hadn't been prepared to go after yet, but of course Cooper had been. "Dammit CASE, let's go get them. I'm not risking the loss." Together, they walked away from base. "What an arrogant asshole," she muttered to herself.

* * *

"Kind of nice up here, isn't it?" Cooper sat down on a rock, waiting on TARS to come stand next to him.

"Eh, I've seen better." Coop wasn't sure if that was a joke or not. The trees were providing the perfect shade for them at the moment, making the trek up the mountain well worth it.

"Where have you seen better?" he asked TARS. TARS didn't even wait a second to respond.

"Well, maybe I haven't." Coop chuckled, shaking his head, constantly amazed by the sense of humor that they had built into all of these robots. It was just up to the user on how much of that humor was deployed.

"What would I do without you, TARS?" He closed his eyes and stretched his arms, pretending he was on Earth again; a healthy Earth.

"I really don't know how you would function. I'm kind of important to you," TARS replied, getting another laugh out of Cooper. "Glad to know I can make you laugh after all of these years. I feel so special." TARS was special, and Cooper wouldn't be here without him.

"Don't go gettin' the big head on me now, buddy," Cooper retorted, trying to just focus on the good he had right now: his life and hope that maybe Brand would come around and realize he wasn't so bad after all.

"Cooper!" he heard. It was Brand.

"Aw shit, TARS. Guess I'm about to get yelled at." TARS walked to stand in front of him. No doubt the 'bot had something to say; he always did.

"You're getting closer and closer to being a typical married couple by the second, Cooper." He snarled, shooing him away with his hand, Amelia coming into sight.

"Oh, shut up, TARS."

* * *

"Cooper! How dare you! You don't know what could be up here! You could've been killed!" She found him sitting on a rock with TARS at his side.

"Calm down Brand, we're just enjoying the view," he replied suggestively. He looked her over, much like he had when they had first met. Time hadn't changed in this regard.

"You have no protective equipment! What if there had been some ferocious animal up here?" He smiled as he pointed to the large gun. Cooper probably knew how to use a gun very well, if Amelia was to guess.

"How much time did you spend outside growing up, Brand?" She had a good many years with the somewhat normal Earth, but by the time she was 15 things started to go downhill, and since then the outdoors was not something she enjoyed.

"Quite a bit until the dust started." Cooper nodded.

"And you say that nature isn't evil, correct? It's scary, but not evil. You get over your fears by facing them, don't ya?" She still stood in front of him. How did he function here like they were camping? Well, maybe they were, but he acted as if they weren't in a dangerous situation, just living a normal, average life.

"I'm going to leave now. I won't disturb you anymore." She turned to walk back down the mountain with CASE.

* * *

"Hey, you get back here; we're going to talk," he exclaimed as she walked away from him, trying to ignore his request.

"Brand!" She still didn't stop. "You heard me, Amelia, don't be a child and act like you didn't." She stopped in her tracks, turning around to face him.

"What do you want to talk about, Cooper? Your poor choice of actions or your inherent need to look under every rock?" The sarcasm dripping off of her words.

"You know what! You've ignored me for days now. I came to keep you company, to help you build this place up, and I'm obviously not needed – you've got CASE." She rolled her eyes as she watched Coop's expression. "No offense, CASE."

"None taken, Cooper. Humans have a natural desire to communicate with other humans." Cooper nodded along with the statement.

"Bingo!" he yelled. Cooper seemed hurt and annoyed. That's exactly how Brand felt, too.

"What do you expect me to say Cooper? I mean, yes, the fact that you came out for me is humbling but it's also selfish, and something tells me that they have a shuttle that can carry at least 10 people. Why did you come alone if that's the case? You could have brought more people, people that have different skills than we do; people who could help us." She was right, it was selfish, but he had his reasons. He looked at their new home, deserted, wondering if this is how the pioneers saw the West.

"Well Brand, you are the only human in existence who understands my journey, and I'm the only human in existence that understands yours. Though celebrated, it was as if I wasn't a person there. I was the very young 124-year-old man. I was a story to them, not a human." She perched down on the ground, elbows on her knees, head supported in her hands. "Murph told me you were alone, beginning your work and I knew that you'd already been through so much. Leaving you there to spend the rest of your life either alone or working on Plan B, it would've been wrong to leave you isolated. It was the least I could do to come out here and help and if you didn't want my help I could at least keep you company. I didn't have anyone left that I knew - you were and are all I know now, Brand." He'd said it in words he didn't know he had.

He was all she knew, too.

"I'm really good at being alone, Cooper. I did it for years once Wolf left. Granted I had my dad, but he was always working on that equation. I didn't know that he found it hopeless, I just thought my dad was trying to save the world, and I guess he was." She looked up at their new sky, trying to keep the tears from falling down her face. She wasn't about to let him watch her cry, again. "He was gone constantly. My mom died a long before Earth ever became a complete mess, Wolf was gone, and I was an only child. So as you can tell, I am an expert at going at it on my own, and I know that this is significantly different than being alone on Earth; hell, being alone on Earth is like being surrounded compared to being alone here."

Cooper sometimes couldn't get over the way Dr. Brand was able to build a figurative wall. He smiled to himself, thinking of how if they had spent more time together, Murph probably would have really loved Dr. Brand.

"I guess I will never understand the loneliness that you went through, but Brand, I do understand a different kind: my wife died years ago, I guess by now it's been 90-something years – hard to believe, right?" He looked over at Amelia, who had come to sit next to him. "I was lonely in a swarm of people, people who thought they could comfort me, but they couldn't. The only thing that ever made me feel less lonely was looking at Murph's eyes or Tom's nose, and seeing their mom, my wife there. So then, it was like her spirit never left, but I would never, ever be able to hear her voice again." Amelia buried her head in her hands, gripping her hair.

"Cooper, I'm so-" she stopped and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry." Amelia Brand and Joseph Cooper were more similar than they appeared, it seemed.

* * *

"Don't go apologizing for something you had nothing to do with, but just know that when you feel alone you aren't actually alone; not now, at least." She looked beautiful and miserable, unlike anyone or anything he had ever seen before. "And you see, just think of it like this: each of those stars out there has at least one planet orbiting it, and there might be people out there feeling the same things that we are, wondering what's next. Maybe we'll meet them someday. Then we really won't be so alone, now, will we?" That got a smile out of her.

"I guess you're right, Cooper. I guess so." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "So she told you to come out here, for me, huh?" Cooper nodded, turning to look at her.

"Yeah, she said you were," he paused, "well, here." Amelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wasn't on Earth, I never got to tell you that." She looked at him again, shock all over her face. "Murph created this beautiful space station, I'll tell you more about it when I'm ready," he said. "I would have come anyway, you know, even if she hadn't said anything. It was and would've been the right thing to do."

She chuckled softly. "Well, thanks. Very noble of you," she replied "So I guess they got my signals?"

"I guess so. They don't have the technology to respond yet I'm guessing. One day though, it will happen. I believe they'll be here before we're done, Brand. I have faith. We just have to keep letting them know that we're here. No one deserves to live on some space station forever, even if my own daughter did create it. And she didn't even name it after her dear old dad," he said in a playful tone. Amelia cleaned up the last of her tears, smiling.

"She was just trying to keep your ego in check, I'm sure." Coop hit her gently in the arm, causing them both to laugh.

"Aaaaaand you're back," he said. "No more ignoring me for four days, or whatever that amount of time was, okay? I can't handle it." He couldn't, there was no way, especially now. Just hearing Murph say that she was alone out here, the thought drove him to an even crazier place than what he thought he already was. Maybe she wasn't the most welcoming, gentle, or calm person, but she was the last surviving person who understood even a fraction of Cooper's struggle throughout this whole ordeal. No one on that station would have ever understood it, and how could they? Only Amelia could ever understand him on that level.

"I'm glad to know I'm needed somewhere." They softly smiled at each other. "The weather here is pleasant," she said, changing the subject. "And the air is amazing… the oxygen levels are beyond optimal, if you hadn't noticed already. CASE says that we're close enough to the planet's equator that we won't have to worry about ever completely freezing."

Brand had said that there were fresh water streams, but as of now no animals had been seen. "I'd give a limb to see an animal again, Brand." He appeared to be scanning the terrain once more.

"With the environment the way that it is, there's almost no doubt that there is animal life. CASE and I haven't seen anything yet, but everything we have recorded adds up to a strong possibility of animals, the only thing is that seeing small animals means that there are almost certainly larger animals, and who knows how colossal the largest animal is here, you know?" She was right. They could soon be dealing with this planet's version of dinosaurs for all they knew. "We're going to have to start shooting them down as soon as we see one, though. We need to analyze their DNA." He couldn't remember a day in his life where he didn't know how to hunt, though he obviously hadn't hunted since the government had put the ban on it - before all the animals died. Something told him that she had no idea what she was getting into.

"I can do that. My dad and I used to take big hunting trips when I was a kid, back when animals still existed." The thought that they had let Earth get into that shape bothered him to no end – one of the many things that bothered him. "It was for fun then, but now, I guess it's serious business." She nodded.

"Yep, it is," she replied, running a hand through her hair. It was getting too long for her liking, and she was going to have to do something about it.

"We didn't realize how lucky we were, hunting for the hell of it. Getting a thrill out of shooting down a boar with a bow and arrow, now, it'll be a different kind of thrill." Amelia couldn't imagine it – killing an animal, or anything for that matter. She'd seen enough death already. "It's what we were built for, Brand; we were created to adapt. Humans wouldn't have survived for this long if it wasn't for the desire to survive." She touched his bare arm.

"I want to survive." He gave her a weak smile.

"Me, too, Brand. Me, too."


	4. Chapter 4: Occidere

Hello, readers! Here it is, Chapter 4. It's not action packed, but it's definitely a building chapter. Thank you to my new beta, **CC333**, for the amazing support and encouragement. And here it is, reader: Occidere.

* * *

Interstellar: Revivisco  
Chapter 4: Occidere

After they had talked, Brand and Cooper were slowly but surely getting back to a healthy place. She wasn't ignoring him, and he didn't dare leave their 'area', as Amelia called it, without telling her.

"Cooper, all of your problems are going to start becoming my problems. I'm not a trained psychologist, you know," TARS said. They both stood in the greenhouse that Brand had set up with plants that looked promising. Apparently seeds had been put into their supplies, and she was working on one plant at a time, as to not waste their supply.

"TARS, you're as close as I'm ever going to get to one here, and I didn't know you had any problems. Tell me," he said back. He poured the water out onto the plants evenly, waiting on TARS to say something.

"I don't have any, Coop." He put down the bucket, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. Sitting down on a bare table that would no doubt soon be filled with plants, Cooper crossed his arms. Brand really was impressive – this greenhouse, while necessary, was creatively done.

"Then what's the problem with you giving me advice?" TARS walked around the greenhouse, as if to check things out.

"I believe you just answered your own question," TARS answered back. Cooper rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to talk to Brand about his issues. She was someone who could no doubt put all of her emotions on a piece of paper, analyze it, and come up with a rational explanation as to why she had those emotions, possibly even going as far as to rank the emotions by significance and weight. They had lived completely opposite lives until they both set out into space. TARS was the only one he had. It was silently understood that CASE stayed with Brand, and that TARS stayed with him.

"Well, I'm gonna try and figure it out on my own then," Cooper said, looking toward the door. Brand was probably somewhere close by, telling CASE things to record. Cooper didn't mind doing the smaller stuff, but there was something humbling about working with plants again. He couldn't analyze data like she could. He could build things, take things apart, and control machines – analyzing rocks wasn't really one of his specialties. "You think they got corn up here, TARS?" Coop asked, sarcastically. He heard the door click.

* * *

"Hey, Cooper," Brand said, "what are you doing right now?" He looked over at her, able to tell in her voice that she had been busy.

"Well, I'm doing whatever I can do to make things easier on you," he said, holding out his hands, swaying them to show off the freshly-watered plants, if you could even call them that. "But, I am kind of relaxing right now, as I'm sure you can tell. Before you say anything, I'll apologize in advance: I'm sorry." She smiled, leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh, please," she said, brushing the apology away. The tone of her voice had some humor to it, something he was happy to hear. She seemed to be lightening up a bit. "You're fine. I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a walk, that's all – I mean, it has a purpose." His ears perked up. This would be the first actual conversation they'd had since they decided not to completely ignore each other anymore.

"Sure, yeah." She nodded, as if to say 'thank you'. She motioned for him to follow her, and he hopped off the table in response. "Where're we off to, Dr. Brand?" He walked behind her, out the door. The sun was shining, and it looked to be an all-around perfect day out.

"I was hoping to go into the woods looking for berries that we can test – check their poison levels or lack thereof," she said, "but I also just thought it would be a nice change of pace." He couldn't have agreed more. "We'll bring CASE with us to record data and take pictures so once we test, we'll know which items we can come back for. TARS?" TARS had followed them out of the greenhouse.

"Yes, Dr. Brand?" She stood straight up, facing TARS. Cooper saw something very militaristic in her, which made sense. She liked to give orders, and liked everything to be no more and no less than what she expected.

"Will you stay here and keep a look out? Notify CASE if you see anything and he'll relay the message to us." TARS agreed, walking toward the center of the camp. "Okay, now where were we?"

"I don't know," Cooper said. Brand rolled her eyes, motioning, again, for him to follow her. She was a good leader, and maybe in another life, would have made an excellent politician. "I'm just along for the ride."

She stopped, looking at their surroundings. "You're not just along for the ride. You're more valuable than that. You do know that, don't you?" He smiled to himself, crossing his arms again.

"Oh, yeah. I'm priceless," he said, laughing. She seemed to be amused by the response.

"Humble, aren't we, Cooper? You've been spending too much time with TARS," she said, rolling her eyes. He shook his head. Who else did he have to spend time with, besides her? TARS had been with him through innumerable highs and lows, and he wasn't about to try and steal CASE away. He'd just change his humor settings without telling Brand and then he'd get in trouble with her.

* * *

"Don't you go knocking on my boy there, Brand!" He said lightheartedly. "I don't know what I'd do without him." Amelia decided not to over analyze that statement – she knew she was needed, he had told her so.

"Okay, so berries; we are looking for berries. We'll collect them in these containers, which," she said, pulling a small, clear plastic box from her bag, "I have multiples of, and then we'll take them back to the lab for testing." They walked a few more steps when Amelia suddenly came to an almost screeching halt. "Dammit! Cooper, I forgot to get one of the guns."

"No problem," he said jogging back toward where Amelia had stashed all the weapons.

"Back so soon?" TARS asked as Coop went past him. He barely had even heard TARS, but he knew exactly what he had asked.

"We just forgot something vital, you know, a gun just incase we come across a mutant giant grizzly bear or something like that." Cooper headed into the lab, grabbing one of the many medium sized guns. He quickly ran back toward Brand, who was standing with her hands behind her back, looking up at the sky. "Got one," he said, holding it up in the air.

"Good. Okay, let's keep going," she said, Cooper right beside her. "Thank you for grabbing that." She was pointing to the gun, almost as if she was scared of it.

"Ah, no problem, no problem. We need it, anyhow," he responded, remembering her reaction to his being-gunless a few days prior. They were about to go into the forest, something he was excited about. But of course Brand wanted him to come: he could use a gun and knew what he was doing when it came to being outdoors in general. "I'm guessing you want to extract seeds from the berries if they aren't poisonous?"

"Yes. We can grow some in the greenhouse and have a supply year round – eat some and make vitamins with them, too. Also, we will be able to look at the plants and be able to tell if they've been tampered with. You know, to see if there are some animals." Maybe she wasn't outdoorsy, but she certainly knew what to look for.

"That's certainly important," he said. She didn't respond, but instead, continued walking. She either spoke too much or not enough, he'd noticed.

* * *

CASE recorded everything that Dr. Brand said about the plants: their shape, their size, their exact color. TARS is probably losing his mind from boredom, Coop thought. Does TARS actually think like that? He is a robot after all.

"Dr. Brand, it's starting to get dark out," he said, motioning up and around them. The sky was terrific to look at right now - the stars were so bright that it was almost like a painting. The stars had looked just like that from Earth once all the city lights went out; the lights that had shielded them from the beauty the universe had to offer.

"I know, and we can come back tomorrow, but we need to get as much data recorded as possible right now so that I can analyze it in the morning before we come back up here," she said. She was taking extra large steps, CASE close behind, pointing at various things. "You could make some suggestions, here."

"I don't know jack about what you're doing," he said straightening up. "I can farm these things once you extract the seeds, obviously." How fitting - the man who had hated farming was at it again, this time without any big machines to help him out. "Before those seeds are out, though, I'm kind of useless." She rolled her eyes.

"You aren't useless," she said, turning around to him. He chuckled, as if she was joking. "I'm being serious. You are invaluable here. I was kind of an asshole earlier, I was just, I don't know, confused, maybe?" She turned back around, walking. "Yeah, I was confused." _Confused as to why you would leave home and come find me, but now is not the time or place to ask about that_, she decided. She heard his footsteps behind her, and it comforted her to know that she wasn't alone.

"It's all in the past now," he said. "But I'm serious, we gotta head out. The dark's setting in." She stopped and looked up; he was right.

"Okay, let's head out. We can come back tomorrow." He nodded, watching her turn around and walk up to him. "It's beautiful out, isn't it? You can see every single star - it's like dust, and I say that honestly. It's not some sick joke about what we left." They had left Earth in dust, and it had to look even dustier now, probably as if someone had taken every ash that ever existed and dumped them in clumps in various and sundry places. "It's pretty dust."

"Pretty dust," he repeated, making him think of watching and reading Peter Pan with Tom and Murph - **just a little pixie dust**. "Think that's anything like pixie dust?" he asked softly. They continued walking, CASE in front of them. She chuckled, causing him to look over at her.

"Pretty dust made us want to fly, didn't it?" she asked him. Sometimes, the things she said sounded so prolific, as if her words could be turned into a book of inspirational quotes. Other times, her words could be turned into a book of good insults to try out on your worst enemies. "Didn't you ever just look up into the sky when you were a kid and wonder what was out there?" Of course he had. He wouldn't be here if he hadn't. He wouldn't have become an engineer had he not had the desire to explore. "I obviously wanted to, but I somehow always knew that regardless, I'd be doing this with my life. My dad had this plan in the works for years, and I knew someday, I'd be leaving Earth and helping to build a colony. I just didn't know that it wasn't Plan A that my dad had in mind like he had led all of us to believe."

"Well, this is the new Neverland, then, I guess." Neverland seemed to be an appropriate way of describing their situation. "Instead of losing our shadows, we lost a little bit of ourselves," he said, their pace slowing. "Life's not life if you don't lose something, though. That's how you have to look at it." She didn't respond. What is there left to lose now? she thought. Nothing, except for each other, and they were irreplaceable to each other - they knew it.

"I hadn't thought of it that way, Coop," she said. "You're right." They continued walking, following CASE - he had recorded the path, after all. "How much longer CASE?"

"Fifteen minutes at this pace, Dr. Brand." They both nodded, but willingly taking their time with the walk. There was a gentle breeze, just cold enough to make the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"If TARS was here, he'd be asking us who was going to play Tinkerbell, I'm sure," Cooper said, looking over at Brand. She didn't seem to have much of a reaction, at least, not one he was expecting. "Got something on your mind there, Brand?" She shook her head.

"Kind of, but at the same time, no," she said, sticking her hands in her pockets. "Sometimes if I think too much, I just get even more scared than I already am." That was the most honest thing he had ever heard her say. She made herself vulnerable, which rarely happened, unless she was mad at him. He put an arm around her shoulder, as if to say that she wasn't alone in her fears.

"Weren't you scared before we left, though? Scared of what Earth was coming to? I was," he said. "Before the dust, everything on the news was about nuclear war, religious wars, wars amongst ourselves. It wasn't until Mother Nature decided to declare war on us that we realized what was important: life. By then, it was too late." Cooper's belief that the universe was always right and that everything happened because it was destined was mostly troubling to Brand, but sometimes, like right now, those beliefs gave her hope.

"Those kinds of wars are just gun shows. This, what we left, that was pulling the trigger," she said rolling her eyes, looking up at him. Cooper laughed tugging at her closer.

"I knew there was a little spark left in you!" he said. "In no time you'll be playing with guns and fire with the best of 'em." They both came to a sudden stop. "Did you hear that, Brand?" he asked her. She nodded, her already large eyes now as big as saucers.


	5. Chapter 5: Pax et Bellum

Hello, readers! Thank you to my AMAZEBALLS beta, **CC333**! We're slowly but surely working out the writing I do in my sleep and my love of commas. You're amazing!

Also, I'm going to begin logging out of my account at night. In the same fashion as I text in my sleep, I posted in my sleep recently and didn't realize it until I officially woke up. Can you imagine texting in your sleep? It's embarrassing! :P

Anyway, thank you for the reviews and sticking with me. I've been reading FF for years, but I never thought I would try to write one. I'm trying my best to make this worth reading, so I'm working on expanding my vocabulary. Your reviews keep me motivated!

Thank you, happy reading, and please review!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 5: Pax et Bellum

"Animals," she whispered, hearing the noise again. It was getting closer. "What do we do?" Cooper pulled her over behind a tree, away from the sound. She motioned for CASE to come over. "Cooper, answer me. What do we do?" He pointed to the gun in his left hand.

"Well, we use this," he said, turning it, inspecting it in front of her. She shook her head in frustration.

"We can't just," she stammered, "we can't just kill it!" _She's gonna have to get used to shooting stuff down,_ Coop thought, _or she'll never make it unless she stays huddled in that unit._

"You can't, but I can. I don't have a problem taking something out if it means saving our lives," he said, whispering even more softly than before. "And you're going to have to get used to this; it's part of your life now." The noise was even closer now. "You stay here, I'm going to look." He peered out before Brand had the opportunity to protest.

There it was - a more normal-looking animal than Cooper had expected to see on this planet. It looked like the cross between a buck and a coyote, its antlers sharp enough to stab something, and no doubt teeth sharp enough to rip the innards out of anything that came across its path. God knows he couldn't let Brand know what it looked like. He pulled back, looking at her, trying his best not to convey his own fear.

"Alright, I've got a plan," he whispered to her. "I want you to climb up that tree, right there." He pointed five feet in front of them. "I'm going to take the gun and go shoot it down." He could see the pleading in her eyes.

"No, no, no! Just climb up here with me and wait for it to leave!" she begged. He could do that, but he knew he could shoot this thing down. "CASE, alert TARS," she whispered to the robot, who in turn signaled to them a very dim light, letting them know he would do as told. "Cooper, don't."

"I have to, Brand. This could be our big chance at figuring out vital things about this planet, and it might not leave. It might be waiting on friends, or, well, you know what I mean! Just climb up into the tree. I swear, I'll survive," he said. Her eyes softened, knowing, somehow, that they would get through it. "I promise."

"Okay." She said, reluctantly. "CASE, stay there." Amelia turned around to climb up the tree, pausing to turn around to Cooper. "Good luck," she mouthed. He nodded his head, taking the gun into position.

"CASE, I'm going to need you to go pick this thing up as soon as I tell you and run it down to the lab. If it's not dead then, I want you to do everything within your power to kill it." CASE gave another signal light. "Okay, now, Cooper, steady," he quietly said to himself, backing himself against the tree across from the one Brand was sitting in. She looked down at him attentively, as if trying to encourage him. He smiled back up at her, nodding. _You've done this before, it's just been 110 years,_ he thought. He got into position, ready to attack. "Three, two," he paused, taking a deep breath. "One." He jumped out from behind the large tree, faced the animal and shot it down before it even had the chance to move. "Brand! I got it! CASE, grab it and take it to the lab – run!" Was it even fully dead yet? He'd gotten it in the chest, no doubt near the heart. If it was still alive, it wouldn't be for much longer. "Amelia, jump out of the tree! I'm standing right here, you won't fall. I got ya. Swear it." He knew that she wasn't one to take risks unless it was completely necessary.

"Oh, God," she said, closing her eyes. "Okay, okay, okay." She jumped down, Cooper catching her with ease. "Thank you." She looked over to CASE before even fully realizing that she was in Cooper's arms. "CASE! You've got it! Lead the way out! Now!" She suddenly realized that they were moving. "Cooper! Put me down!"

"You're endurance isn't up for this, Brand," he said, throwing her over his shoulder, Amelia obviously shocked at the move. "And no offense, but you aren't as fast as CASE or me. No one is as fast as those robots!" Brand was too scared for their lives to try and fight him. Suddenly, there was a loud bark-like noise coming from deeper into the woods. "Shit, shit, shit!" Cooper said.

"Go, Cooper!" Amelia encouraged, trying her best to look out for any animals that might be following them. Cooper was picking up speed, running through the woods, the camp lights in sight. The nights here seemed to creep up faster than they ever did on Earth. The barking began again, and combined with the darkening night sky, it was creepier than imaginable.

"We're almost home," Cooper said as they cleared the woods. "CASE! Into the lab! Go!" CASE seemed to go even quicker, if that was possible. "Dammit," Cooper breathed. "We're seconds from the door, Brand. We're gonna make it." She saw TARS follow behind Cooper. Cooper finally stopped, holding his hand up to the scanner for access. "Fuck! Come on," he shouted as the door opened, TARS hurrying behind. They got inside and the door finally shut. Cooper's breaths were heavy and Amelia could feel his heartbeat just from being over his shoulders.

"Coop, you can put me down now," she said, still hanging upside down, all the blood rushing to her eyes, or so it felt like. He laughed to himself.

"Yeah, sure," he said, bending over slowly, her feet eventually reaching the ground. "There ya go." She stood, slumping over as if she planned to fall forward. "You okay, there?" he asked.

"I think so." She quickly got back into a normal standing position. "Cooper, you need to sit. Here," she said, tapping the floor with her foot. He did as told, taking it a step further and just laid down, watching her walk away.

"Where ya headed?" Cooper asked breathlessly. His chest was rising up and down uncontrollably, trying to regain a normal rhythm. She had stopped and was rummaging through a cabinet. She seemed very focused, as usual.

"I'm getting you some water," she answered, not even looking at him. She appeared to have found what she was looking for, getting up and walking over to him. She tore off the top of the water bag, sticking a long, large straw in. "There we go." He closed his eyes, his panting finally lessening. "Okay, let's get you sitting up." She sat down next to him and pulled him up, along with his help.

"Thank you, Brand," he said as she handed him the straw, still holding the bag. She softly smiled, grabbing the hem of her left sleeve and running it slowly across his forehead, cleaning up the sweat. He relaxed against the wall, taking a large gulp.

"No, Cooper, thank you. You saved my life, for what, the twentieth time?" Her smile widened before her features dropped back to concern. "Slow down! If you drink too fast, things won't be pretty." He wasn't shocked to have Brand taking care of him, but he appreciated it more than he could ever have imagined that he would. She was now wiping his whole face with her sleeve. "Can you hold this? I'm going to go get you a towel and a blanket. I'll be right back." He nodded, gently taking the bag from her. She got up and quickly walked toward another cabinet, opening it and swiftly grabbing what she had gone after.

"Damn, you're quick," he said as she walked back with the folded towel and blanket. She nodded, sitting back down in front of him.

"It's nothing, especially after what you did back there," she said as she wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. She began unfolding the towel. "I can't thank you enough."

"Now, Brand, I did what needed to be done. You would have done the same thing," he said, as she took his hands, cleaning them up and drying them off.

"I couldn't have carried you and ran for nearly half a mile," she said softly. "Just accept that someone needs you." Hearing that was worth the whole endeavor, for him at least. "God knows I need you." He was sure that TARS was loving every bit of this. "No cuts or scrapes?" she asked.

"I don't think so," he responded, overlooking his arms. She didn't seem satisfied with that answer, taking his left arm and looking at it before moving on to the right. "We'd both know if I was bleeding to death." She smiled again, looking up at him before looking back down at his right arm.

"Just trying to make sure you're okay. You think there's anything on your legs?" He shook his head, but straightened his legs out for her to inspect anyway. He knew she'd make him if he didn't oblige. "Thank you," she said, looking over both legs with precision. "Sit there as long as you like, okay? Don't get up until you are absolutely sure you won't fall. I know you're probably fine, but just humor me, deal?" He nodded as she got up once more. "You're going to need to eat soon. I'll grab you some food." They were still eating the endless supply of freeze-dried food that had been packed in both of their ships. It was getting to the point that if Cooper ever ate real food ever again, he would probably think that it tasted weird.

"That was certainly an adventure," he said, his breathing finally level. He couldn't see her, but could hear her walking back toward him. "I don't want to do that again anytime soon, though."

"Agreed." She was suddenly in front of him, holding her arms out to help him up. "Come on, Cooper." He obliged, standing with ease. "Want to go see that whatever-it-is once you eat?" she asked. He nodded.

"Sure; you gotta eat too," he said, walking over toward the table. She put her hands on her hips, looking over at him.

"I will, once the shock leaves my body. I can't eat for a bit after I've been nervous." Cooper laughed, watching her expression. That made sense for her, it seemed. She was someone who was always on edge, ready for the absolute worst to happen at all times. _That kind of person gets nervous at every turn_, Cooper figured.

"And you don't think I was nervous?" he asked, seriously. She looked at him as she sat down at the table, waiting on him to sit in front of her.

"No, you weren't nervous. I can't picture you ever being so nervous that you couldn't accomplish what you set your mind to," she said, watching him. He smiled one of those goofy smiles that she was now used to – the smile she appreciated the most.

"Aw, now, Brand, don't make me blush," he said, pulling out a chair. "You know, you'd think they'd make comfortable chairs for us, considering these might be the last kitchen chairs we ever sit in. Grim, I know." He put his hands behind his head, leaning back. "Maybe we could make some."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll sew the cushions," Brand said, Cooper automatically picking up on the sarcasm in her voice. She was quick - able to retaliate or respond within moments of anything, he had noticed.

"You don't look like that kind of girl to me, Brand," he said, opening his eyes. She laughed, twirling what she could of her short hair. She was one of the few women he had ever met that could pull that look off. As minimalistic as she was, it made sense that she would have a haircut that required nearly no work.

"I have to cut this," she said, pointing at her head, "it's driving me insane – has been for about a month. I'm starting to look like a teenage boy with a behavior issue." Coop quickly made a list in his head of all the responses he could throw out for that statement, finally settling on one.

"You mean to tell me that you don't have a behavior issue now?" She looked up at him, smirking, knowing it was a joke. TARS had obviously left minutes ago, probably going into the lab with CASE, collecting information. "Our bots appear to have left us."

"CASE has alone time frequently. It's good for me, just to be by myself sometimes. Does TARS ever leave you?" He shook his head. TARS never left him, mostly because he didn't want TARS to leave him.

"Nah, we're like fraternity brothers," he answered. Amelia could see that. Coop was so free-spirited. TARS, of course, could have his settings changed to be more like CASE, and the opposite could happen, too, but she figured that both robots were just right the way that they were at the moment. "It's kind of nice being able to talk to you without him around though not gonna lie. I know he's harmless, but just knowing that he is built to record every word we say is sometimes a little freaky. I get that it's for data purposes in case we forget something, but you know what I mean."

"Oh, I understand, trust me," she said, glancing around the small room. "Imagine only having a robot to talk to for a month."

* * *

"This is why I didn't say anything to you after I saw it," Cooper said, leading Amelia into the lab where the bloodied animals was spread across the stainless steel table. She of course wasn't terrified by the blood, but she was terrified of its form. "Antlers like knives and sharp teeth - this thing is designed to kill."

"I can tell," she said, walking around to the other side of the table. "Let's get a good look at its mouth, and maybe if we cut open the stomach we can extract some food - see what it eats; it's diet. Hopefully it hasn't been in there long enough for the gastric juice to completely destroy it, because I won't be able to tell, otherwise." Cooper nodded, handing her gloves, goggles, and a mask.

"I'm assuming you want a suit, too?" he said, motioning toward the plastic jumpsuits that were hanging in the corner. She didn't answer, too busy prepping for 'surgery'. He grabbed one for her anyway and one for himself, realizing that if he was going to stay, he would need to be just as well prepared as she was. "You want me to help you at all?" he asked as he handed her the suit. He didn't know what to look for in any animals' stomach, but he knew how to gut one.

They both began sliding on the big white pieces of plastic. "I'm going to need you to hand me knives and jars. We're definitely collecting samples and I think we might want to extract some teeth, too. We can check for age and health conditions from the pulp inside the larger ones." He walked away to gather the items, putting them on the table behind her. He finished putting on his mask, goggles, and gloves.

"Cooper, might I suggest cutting off the antlers and hanging them on the wall for decoration?" TARS proposed. "I hear that humans used to do things like that when hunting was still practiced, before the extinctions and laws." If Cooper could have high-fived the robot, he would have. Brand looked up at them, scoffing.

"Eh, don't think that will go over so well, buddy, but thanks for the suggestion," Cooper said, winking at TARS. He turned back around to watch Brand. "I want to see how you do this." She, again, was too focused on what she was doing to pay attention to what he was saying. He watched her tie all four limbs down, just to secure the body.

"I need to get a shallow, but just deep enough cut," she said, drawing a line across and down its stomach. "I don't want to damage the insides more than I have to." She began to make her cut. "We should try to preserve the brain so we can examine it later. That's not high on our priority list right now, but down the road, we'll have time." She was finished with her cuts, ready to go into the stomach. "Open up those jars, Coop. We have to be quick about this." He did as he was told, holding one in each hand out in front of her.

"I'll hold them right here. You can drop whatever you want into them and I'll close them up as soon as you say so," he said, trying to make this as easy and quick as possible.

"CASE, when I'm done with the body, will you please bury it for us? Just don't put it near Wolf, okay?" Wolf. Cooper hadn't thought about Wolf since he and Brand finally made up. He'd practically forgotten that he was just buried just right outside.

"Of course, Dr. Brand."

* * *

Amelia could see the light on from her small bedroom. _Cooper must still be up,_ she thought. She knew he frequently got up in the middle of the night out of habit and would read data she collected during the day just so he would be informed on what was going on. She got up from the bed, walking out to the common area, surprised to find Cooper sitting there, no tablet in his hands. "What's going on?" she asked. Cooper turned around, greeting her with tired eyes.

"Just a dream," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry if I woke you." Had he been screaming? Did she hear him screaming? He turned back around in his chair.

"I saw the light on and came in; you didn't wake me."

_What a relief,_ Cooper thought. Brand sat down in another chair close to him. "Are you okay?" _ Is this a question worth answering honestly?_ he thought. Maybe. Maybe not. Hard to tell. "Come on, Coop. Are you okay?"

"Just a dream," he said, trying not to look at her. "Just a dream." Brand didn't buy that for one second, but chose to ignore it for the time being. "You should go back to sleep."

"I will eventually," she said. She knew she looked like a wreck right now - her hair was no doubt sticking straight up on her head. Cooper seemed to be in some sort of daze, staring at the wall.

"I have a recurring nightmare," he said in a whisper, "about a crash that happened to me right before they supposedly shut down NASA - it put me out for a while, and then when I was ready to come back, NASA was gone, or so I thought." She nodded, patiently waiting for a story. "No doubt your father told you about it," he added

"He never did, actually," she said, her eyes softening, "that sounds terrible, having to constantly relive something like that." Cooper knew she meant well, but Amelia had no idea what reliving was. Knowing that his life was a paradox, wondering if everything that ever fell to the ground was supposed to be some kind of message; it was a life of fear.

"Well, it's pretty much as basic and terrible as it sounds." He was hoping they could leave it there. "You ever have any nightmares?" he asked. She nodded.

"I've gotten to the point that I don't even look at them as nightmares and there are never recurring ones." She was weaving her fingers together. "I have all these dreams about nuclear war, aliens, mass murders; you name it. I remember when I was a kid, I would wake up and still believe they were real, so I'd always ask my dad if it was real or not. His answer was always, 'no, but always be looking'", she said, using her best British accent, which was obviously quite good. "Some answer to give a nine year old, huh?" She laughed. "I guess that was just my dad being, well, John Brand." Cooper could see Professor Brand telling a kid that, to never just assume something was real or that it wasn't: just always keep an eye out because it could happen - anything could happen.

"Sounds about like him," Coop said, blinking a few times. "I'd give an arm for a beer right about now." Brand smiled, not doubting that statement a bit. "I would even go for the really cheap shit right now." He looked over at Brand, who was still smiling. "You a non-drinker, Brand?" She laughed, causing him to smile.

"I drank in college. I was a social binge drinker, so I gave it up. I mean, if we had beer right here, and an endless supply, I could have one or two, no problem; the big problem was that I'd over-drink just to have the confidence to speak to guys I liked." That wasn't something Cooper was expecting to hear. "Then, I met Wolf. I didn't have to be drunk to talk to him, and he liked me sober. He liked me for me. It was nice." Definitely a statement that Cooper never expected that he would hear Amelia Brand use to describe herself. "He changed me, for the better, that is."

"I wish I could've met him, Brand," Cooper said. Wolf sounded like an all-around saint to Cooper. "He sounds like he was quite the guy." She nodded, trying to keep herself from tearing up.

"He was. He was unlike anyone I've ever met." Cooper felt some combination of sadness for her loss and a weird jealousy that he couldn't describe. "Everyone we ever loved got taken away from us too early, didn't they, Cooper?" The honesty and reality of that statement fell heavy on them both.

"Yeah," Cooper paused, "they did."


	6. Chapter 6: Et Mors Dilectio

Hello, again! I've been working and writing with my fabulous beta, **CC333** (I can't speak any higher of your amazingness!** :]**) Hope you all enjoy this installment. Again, your reviews are greatly appreciated! I love reading them. Thank you and enjoy.

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 6: Et Mors Dilectio

Each day seemed to pass by more quickly than last. The days and nights were longer there, but not by so much that it ruined a normal sleep cycle. The temperature was continuing to rise gradually, something that Cooper was grateful for. It made his days outside more comfortable and welcomed.

"I've made bows and arrows for us. The guns aren't going to work when it comes to killing for food – we'll either torch them or give them so much radiation that we'll die a slow death from cancer. Maybe even a fast death, who knows," he said. She didn't respond, knowing that he was implicitly referring to his wife's death. "The bows are designed for our respective arm lengths and the arrows, as such, correspond to the length of the bow. If the arrow is much shorter than the bow, it'll get no where." Brand grinned, shaking her head.

"Ever the engineer, aren't you, Cooper?" He bowed as he handed her the bow.

"Damn right I am," he said, chuckling lightly. "I haven't done this since I was 14, Brand. That's how old I was when the laws were put into place ,before everything was gone. You know my kids never even saw a dog? A dog, Brand – the most American animal there was save for a bald eagle."

Amelia took the arrows that Cooper handed her, examining the arrowheads. "I know they're not too sharp, but we're not trying to put an eye out here."

"I'd hope not," she laughed, putting the arrows down. "This feels so unnatural to me." Of course it did. She didn't live the life Cooper had, hunting until the government forced everyone to stop. However, she had watched almost every species inevitably die out.

"Well, get used to it, Brand. Think of it this way: we're pioneers. We're the new world." They were the new world. They were risking their lives for the greater good of their people. She sadly smiled, agreeing that this really the beginning.

"Does that make the Endurance the Mayflower, Cooper?" he heard TARS ask in the background. Amelia laughed, bringing a hand to her mouth, trying to suppress the hilarity.

"I guess so, you smartass," Coop muttered, turning around and smiling at the robot.

* * *

_I can't even get her out of my mind when she's right in front of me,_ Cooper thought. He had found her attractive when they first met; he just never actually thought they'd be in this situation where it could ever get to be more than a look over. She was difficult to figure out, but fascinating nonetheless. In college he'd probably seen pictures of her in Professor Brand's office or heard stories about her, not even being able to dream up the journey that they would take together.

As easy as this would have been anywhere else, it was torture there, considering that they were all the other had. If this were Earth, he would have done something about this attraction weeks or multiple decades ago. He stopped his thinking, and continued about, looking at himself in the mirror.

"Put a shirt on, Coop," she said, passing him.

"Shaving while fully clothed is kind of ridiculous, Amelia. You get the stuff all over you." She scrunched up her face.

"Gross," she said to herself, walking away. He smirked, continuing to shave.

"And your legs are any different?" he shouted after her, still hearing her footsteps down the hall. She didn't respond. "You planning on anything big today?" he asked.

"Not really, just checking on the progress in the greenhouse. I want to take a nice few easy days – I think we deserve it." He couldn't agree more.

"Sounds good. What's an easy day to you? Working for twenty hours?" She smiled to herself. She began to walk back toward the doorway where Cooper was.

"No, an easy day is _nineteen_," she said, jokingly. "But really, I'm thinking just a few days off. My back is killing me from all the walking and standing I'm doing." He looked in the mirror, back to her face.

"Well, you take some time off; I'll do your work and mine," he said, seriously. She shook her head in protest.

"No, if I take time off, you will too. Like I said, we deserve it. You've been here about a month now, I've been here for two months, and we've been working nearly nonstop," she stated with finality. He agreed. She rubbed her eyes again, trying to wake herself up. She glanced back at Cooper before walking away. "I'm going to head on out there," she yelled from down the hall.

"I'm not gonna argue with the boss," Coop said, rinsing the razor out in the sink before beginning to run his hands over his face just to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Smart move," he heard her say as she walked out the door.

* * *

"Is it bad that I want to use this time off to just nap?" she questioned Cooper, who appeared to be writing. He stopped, looking at her wrapped up in a huge blanket.

"How are you even walking with that thing around you?" he asked, amused. He looked her up and down, trying to comprehend how ridiculous she looked.

"Talent," she replied almost immediately. "Why am I even asking you this? Good God, Amelia, get your shit together." She turned to walk back to her room.

"The fact that you feel guilty about taking a nap is all the more reason that you need to nap," he answered, putting the tablet down, sticking the stylus behind his ear. "You know that humans do have to sleep, right? Those 7-8 hours of closing your eyes that they recommend aren't for nothing." She rolled her eyes as usual, somewhat wiggling her nose.

_He looks kind of cute in that burgundy t-shirt_, she decided. "Really? I didn't know! Thanks for informing me!" she bit back sarcastically. He smiled to himself, letting the tablet's screen go black.

"And I thought TARS was a smartass," he retorted, leaning back in his chair. Amelia didn't respond and instead decided that this would be the perfect time to go back to bed. "Well, where're you off to now?"

"Back to bed. I need those seven to eight hours, remember?" He shook his head, watching her walk away.

"Thanks for taking notes during my lesson," he said as she reached her bedroom.

* * *

"Cooper! Cooper! Wake up!" he heard. "It's not real. You're alive! Wake up!" Brand was shaking him, screaming. He finally opened his eyes, relief suddenly written all over her face. "Thank God you're awake!" Amelia said, hugging him. "You were scaring me."

He instinctively hugged her back. _I was having the dream_, he thought to himself, _and she caught me in it_. "I woke you up," he said apologetically.

"No, no, no," she said, softly, still holding him. "It's fine. I'd hope you'd do the same thing for me." He would and they both knew it. Amelia let go of him, still sitting on the bed. "No worries."

"No worries," Cooper breathed, "I wish." Amelia frowned, saddened by the reality of the statement. There was a lot of be scared of, but if they wanted to make it they would have to forget about their fears or face them. "Still daylight?"

"Yeah, barely." She stretched her arms, yawning. "I was sleeping, but I'm glad I'm up, really." She appeared to drift off in thought, looking up at the ceiling. "I want to go outside and look at the stars. You're welcome to join me."

She had some sort of quality about her that oozed innocence, but there was also something about her that was so fierce and headstrong. It was as if she had seen so much death and loss that it had brought her down to a place beyond reality. _That's what makes nightmares_, Cooper decided.

"Sure," he responded, "I'd enjoy that."

* * *

It felt odd to Cooper to not be able to name a single constellation – this new Earth, this new world – it was new in every sense of the word. They would name the animals, create new things, and discover everything.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she muttered, not really asking a question at all. "You can see every little thing, every color."

They were lying down on the ground, looking into the sky for the hell of it – not because they needed to. Humans were built to wonder and question; this was wonderment and questioning if Cooper had ever seen it.

"Makes you think," he responded. The ensuing silence was full of tension, as if they both had more to say, but they weren't going to acknowledge it. "I used to take girls out on dates to look at the stars," Cooper said, grinning to himself while trying to remember just how many girls he had pulled that trick on.

"And how did that work out for you?" Amelia questioned, amusement in her voice.

He snickered, putting his hands behind his head. "Eh, it worked, but not the way I had originally intended." She tilted her head back, laughing a little before he gave her the rest of his answer. "The girls I was runnin' after in high school weren't those kind of girls that, you know, appreciated that kind of thing," he said softly. "They were 'backseat' kind of girls, if you know what I mean." Amelia laughed again while turning completely on her side. "I mean, sure, that was probably what was next on my agenda too– hell, I know it was, but I thought for sure that all the chicks would dig a guy who could tell them about the stars." Amelia could imagine a younger Cooper sweet-talking beautiful girls, and those beautiful girls being too bewitched by his gorgeous features to even pay attention to what he was explaining. She returned to her a former position, looking forward into the sky.

"God, you were charming your way into situations even then, weren't you?" she asked. Cooper glanced over to her, seeing a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, but my technique always came through!" he said, nudging her in the arm. She looked over at him, still beaming from ear to ear. "I always gave in after about five minutes of explaining the North Star." She was still glued in, hanging on to every word. "I can't help that I was a hot-ticket item, Brand," he exclaimed dramatically, propping himself up on his left elbow, smiling back down at her, knowing that she'd give him a feisty response.

"A cocky charmer; who knew," Brand chuckled, looking back at the stars. Her humor was sharp, deeply embedded into her intelligence. He couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking - if she was feeling the same things he was. His free hand moved to her arm, his fingers gently grazing up and down her skin. _Here's your chance, Cooper_, he thought. _You've been waiting for the right moment; just do it already._

"You've known for a while," he said, still staring down at her. She shifted to meet his eyes, no doubt noticing that he was staring at her mouth. "You figured me out a long time ago." His eyes drifted to hers. "About 90 something years ago, to be exact." She looked at him warmly, nodding her head.

"I guess I did," she whispered, still gazing at him. _Why is he so damn appealing?_, Amelia silently asked herself. She had the chills that she hadn't felt in years – anticipation for what inevitably came next. She felt like one of those teenage girls, except she was interested in everything he had to say, fascinated by everything he did. Even the things he said that she considered ridiculous sounded wonderful when they came from his lips. His voice was like good, soothing music; he could rock a baby to sleep.

She had decided when he caught her from the tree and ran with her over his shoulder that he wasn't the person that she had created him to be in her mind. Sure, she didn't understand him completely, but she didn't understand herself completely, either. That's what time was for: to discover.

He was still staring at her, trying to construct his next move. "Yeah," he sighed, "you did." He inched closer and his lips were on hers within a blink.

Amelia Brand hadn't been kissed like that in years, her body jolting at the contact. Cooper paused and she could feel his smile, as if he was amused by and appreciated her reaction. He stopped, his lips brushing her ear - the warmth on her neck enough to drive her insane if he didn't continue.

"I've been dying to do that," he whispered, hearing her lips smack before they parted into a smile. He lifted his head up, looking at her again. She fixed her eyes on him, blinking slowly. He touched her cheek, his thumb running over her bottom lip.

"Me too," she mouthed, bringing him back down.

* * *

Later, they got up from their tryst and headed back to the unit, both walking to their separate rooms. He had to admit that he was somewhat disappointed that it hadn't gone further, but somehow he had always known that Brand was not a backseat kind of girl.


	7. Chapter 7: Praeteritum

Hello! This is Chapter 7: Praeteritum. To say that I have rewritten and edited this multiple times would be an understatement. This chapter has evolved so much. Keep the reviews coming, I've really appreciated them. They help me dig a little deeper in myself to make this story better for you, and I love making other people happy. Please review some more, and tell me what you think. Things are only getting better from here, in my opinion.

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**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 7: Praeteritum

Little had changed between the two of them. They were back to work, only talking at night. She seemed to be a little less on edge, which shocked him, but there was still so much room for improvement, like how she hadn't even mentioned what had happened just days ago. Not so much as a word – she carried on as usual; Cooper, not so much. How could he?

He had taken no time getting into the idea of her, deciding she was really something when they met, then as time went on and he'd seen her ups and downs, he was even more drawn to her. He couldn't even look at her the same way anymore, and there was no way that she hadn't noticed him staring at her for extended periods of time, a habit that he had tried to suppress prior to kissing her. He felt like that teenager again, except this time, he couldn't seduce her into fooling around in the back of his truck. Amelia did things on her own clock, and she didn't strike him as one who spent too much time focusing on her personal life. Edmunds was the only guy she had ever mentioned, and knowing how closed up she was, there probably never were others, something he could halfway identify with. He never knew a day without his wife before she died.

They had grown up in the same little town, and she had been strictly a friend until he was 18 and she was 16. He was friends with her brother, and he knew she was pretty much off limits. It was Jill who made the first move, not Cooper, asking him for help with her math homework. Come to find out she was great with numbers and had only asked for Cooper's help so she could make a move. Red headed, sweet, too good to be true, captain of the cheerleading squad, straight As, church-goin' every Sunday Jill. They had found out that she had the cyst in her brain just as she entered her third trimester with Murph. Gone were the days of high-tech medicine, and they were forced to deal with nature, knowing that what could happen would happen, thus, Murphy. He looked down at the ring that he still wore.

Amelia was just the opposite, and somehow, he thought Jill would approve of her. Amelia was quick to correct, whereas Jill would let small errors slide if their ignorance made them happy. _She'd like her because she'd call me out on my shit,_ he thought, causing him to smile. She had encouraged him to move on once he felt the time was right, but it had never felt right until now. Donald had been pushing him to find someone else for years, because he knew that's what his daughter would have wanted, for Cooper to be happy.

The chemistry that he and Amelia obviously had existed long before they finally kissed. Here he was, alone with her feeling like now was finally the time to act on Jill and Donald's advice. He wasn't in love with her yet, but he felt like he could be soon.

Cooper figured that there probably was never much room in Amelia's life for a relationship. Her relationship with Wolf possibly existed because of proximity, later turning into something more, then growing deeper once he was gone, once it was too late. Gone from Earth for 100 years, gone from her for what felt like 10, he couldn't imagine what it had to be like coming to a new planet, finding your partner dead. Even if she had expected him to be gone, Cooper couldn't imagine the feeling; at least he was there when his wife had died. Amelia wasn't that fortunate.

He had been doing the math in his head, adding up their similarities. They had both lost their partners some years ago, He raised Murphy and Tom without Jill, and from Amelia's stories, the little amount of her childhood that she ever spoke about, her mother had died when she was young, too, leaving Professor Brand to raise her. Something about the timing, the amazingly long yet short timing seemed to be pointing arrows toward her, like someone had set them up that way.

He knew that there was no way she had forgotten what happened – if anything, she was testing the waters, just like she had all her life, but testing the waters seemed like a slap in the face to the waves that they had already conquered.

* * *

"Cooper, I can tell your frustration levels are up," TARS said smoothly. Cooper frowned; frustrated was an understatement.

"You could say that," he replied, hearing the door click open.

There she was, coming in from the day. She looked like her usual exhausted self, covered in sweat that had turned into an iridescent glow, something that he was sure that only Amelia could pull off. Cooper was sitting at one of the desks, writing again.

She leaned up against the wall. "Muscle spasms," she explained, closing her eyes. "I've been having them all day."

He got up from the desk, walking over to her. "You want a muscle relaxer?" She nodded, still leaning against the wall, waiting on Cooper to come back from the medicine cabinet. He really wanted to make some joke about relieving tension, but he wasn't willing to ruin his chances for right now. He grabbed the pill bottle and came walking back to her. "Here ya go," he said opening the bottle.

"Cooper," she muttered, dry swallowing a pill. He'd been with her long enough to know that's how she took her pills – smart effort on her part to conserve the stored, purified water that they had, still a little too in shock from the whole experience to taste the water from this planet. "Thank you."

"Ah, no problem," he replied, eyeing her. "So how long has this been going on?" She shrugged her shoulders, half frowning.

"Really my whole life. I remember my eyelids twitching in pre-school," she answered, "but these, in my back, it just started within the past two weeks." She reached behind her in an attempt to rub out the pain in her back.

"That's because your brain never stops," he said, laughing, taking hold of her shoulders, turning her around. "Murph was like that, too. Couldn't sleep because her mind never, ever turned off."

"That's a perfect way of describing it," she half-whispered, straightening up, his hands on her back making her focus.

"Now where exactly is this going on?" he questioned. She was happy he couldn't see her cheeks turning pink.

"Lower right," she said, his hands digging into her back. "Ow! God, Cooper! That hurts!"

"No pain, no gain, Brand," he chuckled, "maybe I could go a little lighter, though." The pain had weakened, and between his hands and the soon-to-activate pill, she probably would be feeling better in no time.

She wasn't sure if she liked Cooper taking care of her. No one had ever had to take care of Amelia Brand, and she had the emotional battle scars to prove it. She was tough! She wouldn't have come out here if she wasn't.

"I'm going to go through some notes," she said, turning around and attempting to walk further into the unit, but Cooper gently stopped her.

* * *

"Now hold on," he countered, smiling, holding her still. "Why ya leaving so soon?" She tried to suppress a smile, looking down at the ground. For someone who was so great at confrontation, she sure could be shy sometimes. Was she blushing?

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, looking back up at him. He raised his eyebrows, acknowledging that he knew exactly what he was doing. She was definitely blushing.

"Practicing my 'cocky charmer' skills, as you so kindly called them," he replied, leaning down to whisper in her ear. He waited a moment before speaking again. "They working?"

"Eh," she retorted, shrugging, "you might need some fine tuning." He smirked._ I'll show you fine tuning_. He put his hands on her waist, taking his time to feel the way her hips flared out. His lips got dangerously close to hers, before reeling back, teasing her.

"What about now?" She lightly grasped his shoulders, admiring the muscle tone she could feel through his shirt. He was doing absolutely everything he could do except kiss her, trying to coax her into continuing.

"Maybe," she murmured, trying not to laugh, not sure what to do next.

He saw her smile, her lithe form caving into him, his muscular, warm arms wrapping around her. "Just maybe?" He pulled back so he could look at her before he kissed her. "Maybe?" he asked, leaning down to meet her lips. She willingly obliged to the advance, craning one arm around his neck. "Well, I'm going to be an expert by the time I'm through with you," he sighed, quickly going back to what he had stalled. His hands made their way underneath her shirt to her ribcage, his thumbs raking across each rib. He was going sickeningly slow, testing her limits even further.

* * *

This was like words turned into actions, words made into a reality. She knew he was going slow on purpose, just to drive her crazy. Her hands found their way under his shirt just slightly, her fingers as cold as ice. "You tryin' to play a game with me, Amelia?" he asked her, breaking their kiss. He pinned her against the wall, kissing her again._ He really knows what he's doing_, she thought.

Whatever feelings she was still harboring for Wolf, she knew she'd have to tuck them into a dusty corner in her brain. He was always going to be with her to some extent, but Cooper was here, alive, and he was different than anyone else she'd ever met. Wolf was scientific to a fault, basing everything he did off of logic – he'd never viewed what they had as driven by some otherworldly force, but as human instinct. Amelia had felt the same way about love until he left, never to return. She saw in Wolf something she admired and wanted to emulate, and Cooper, while they were nowhere near love in her eyes, not yet, represented something that she never got from Wolf and had always wanted. Despite being an amazing man, he was never really wired for heavy feelings, even when they were in the height of their relationship, but Cooper felt things, heard things, and saw things like no one else she had ever met. On Earth, she had tried to move on, her father constantly reminding her that she had known all of her life that relationships like this didn't work for people like Wolf. He was first and foremost an explorer who needed to put humanity in front of his emotions.

Then there was Cooper, whose every move was completely driven by his emotions, not logic – the opposite of the first man she ever loved and desired, and some part of her thought that her father had known that. If he was looking for people to send out and colonize, never to come back, he'd want to send people with a strong desire to survive, not people that had been prepared to die for years, awaiting death without fear.

How had he ended up in this good of shape? How could he be here, after living the life he had lived, and be in such a fantastic mood most of the time? _Because he wanted to be here with you,_ she told herself. No matter how many times she had silently repeated that idea, she never fully believed it. He came back because she told him to, she was sure of it - out of respect for the memory of Murphy. There could be no other logical reason, and she knew Cooper was a man built of dignity, someone who would risk his own life if that meant to save someone else or millions. She had witnessed it.

If she had told herself when they first met that she would doing this with Cooper, let alone on another planet, she would have laughed. She had figured that if she lived through the mission and Wolf was indeed dead, she would never become vulnerable to another soul ever again, more than comfortable with that decision. Her father had never loved again after her mother died, and he went on just fine after a reasonable amount of time grieving. With Cooper, things felt different - his mere presence was making her want to be more emotionally available._ But there is no way he's actually into you,_ she told herself. She was right, she had to be. There could be no way that Cooper truly wanted her.

"Cooper, Cooper," she said breathlessly, trying to get his attention.

"Yes?" he asked, his eyes looking that same way they did whenever he was able to make her laugh.

She stopped him, holding his face in her hands. "I can't do this."

* * *

She had gone off to her room, shutting the door just like before.

"This seems familiar," he said to himself, sitting back at his desk, continuing to write. He knew that she trusted him, so that wasn't an issue. Trust was required here.

So what was stopping her? Edmunds, maybe? Might be more than a little difficult for her with him being buried practically right out the door. "The backseat sounds mighty fine right about now," he whispered to himself. She had seemed really into it right up until she had told him she couldn't continue.

Cooper stayed at the desk, thinking she'd eventually leave her room, eventually giving up. He was glad that CASE and TARS had been outside being useful while they were busy– they were like children you had to sneak around.

He left the desk, turning off the light, walked back into his own room, and wished that there was some obvious solution to his problem.

* * *

"Good morning," she said softly, not looking at him as she walked by quickly. He got up from the table, catching up to her, knowing damn good and well she was hurrying to try and avoid this conversation with him.

"You think we could talk about last night?" he asked, Amelia stopped, finally looking at him before closing her eyes.

"Not right now, I just-" she stammered, "I really- Jeez." She was wondering how she could best word this.

"It's because Edmunds is buried just feet away, right? Honestly, I get that. It is weird," Cooper responded, watching her, and suddenly grinning at the next thought that popped into his mind . "I've been creative before, I can get creative again." They were both quiet, Cooper waiting for Amelia to speak, and Amelia trying to find the words.

"No, it's not that," she retorted, "I hadn't even thought of that, actually." _And now I've put the idea in her head. Great._

"What's the problem then?" She began to shake her head, knowing that whatever she did say, it would come across as negative toward him, and he was certainly not the issue. "If it was too much last night, moving too fast, I can wait - I get how that could be difficult after all you've been through recently."

"No, no, that's not it. What's moving too fast when you're 119 years old?" she laughed, slightly forgetting the weight of the subject at hand. "I'm the problem. I haven't done this in years," she explained, nervousness in her voice. She laced her fingers together, still too embarrassed to look at him.

"It's like learning to ride a bike – you never forget." He saw her smile, taking that as a good sign.

"I haven't forgotten, Cooper," she said, still smiling, glancing at him before staring out a window. Conversations involving her emotions had always been difficult for her, growing up in an environment that reinforced the idea that relationships stood in the way of your progress, and also stood in the way of your ability to think clearly. Her father seemed to be the only person that could actually balance the two. Maybe that's why Wolf had been so confusing.

"Then what's the concern? I don't understand-" she stopped him, taking in a huge gulp of air.

"It's not you, trust me." That's nice to hear, Cooper thought. "It's me, I just," she silenced herself.

"You just what, Amelia?" He was hanging on her every word – words that could either be bombs or manna.


	8. Chapter 8: Volo

Happy New Year, you guys! I hope that you've had an amazing holiday season, and are ready for what 2015 has in store for us. Thank you to all of you lovely people who have reviewed! Regardless of your review, I really appreciate them. :) Shoutout to my stellar (hehe) beta, **CC333**! You rock for sticking with me and encouraging me throughout all of this.

Again, Happy New Year, and may 2015 bless us with the announcement of _Interstellar 2_.

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**Interstellar: Revivisco **  
Chapter 8: Volo

"I mean, I don't..." she ran her hands through her hair. "Why is this so difficult?" He still waited, and she began to pace the floor. For a woman who always knew what to say, this behavior was a shock to Cooper. "I've been with one guy, Coop. One - Wolf. And I haven't exactly done this in a while. God, 10 years - 10 years! We might even be able to say 100 by now," she laughed to herself.

"Again, you never forget," Cooper sealed his lips in a tight line, trying not to laugh. "So what's the deal?"

"We can talk about it later," she murmured, attempting to walk away.

"No, let's talk about this now." She looked everywhere in the room except at him. "Okay, so you've been with one person compared to my, um, multiples, before I started dating Jill."

"That's not the problem, Cooper." She pushed her sleeves up.

"Then what is?"

"You like me because we're the only ones here," she explained, "which is natural, I get it, but that's not what I want. I want to be wanted because I'm the only person someone can think about, not because I'm the only person left."

He waited, trying to dissect her words. "You don't like me," she said flatly.

With a quizzical face, he replied, "Yeah, I do. Have for a while. I mean, when we were out there," he pointed up, "it was not the time or place to make a move, and I kind of forgot about liking you as it got more stressful, but as soon as Murph told me you were here, my mind wouldn't stop until I saw you again - until I found you." She stopped pacing, her face completely blank.

He walked toward her, grabbing her hands. "I just told you how I felt, that my mind wouldn't stop until I saw you again, remember?"

"No," she muttered, pulling her hands away. "Guys like you don't go after girls like me. You said it yourself the other night." This woman sure could twist his words.

"I never said that," he whispered, walking behind her and talking to her over her shoulder. "I went after those girls then, but my wife wasn't one of those girls – you certainly aren't one of those girls." He watched her whole body go stiff, as if she was awaiting something. "I was a horned-up teenager who thought he was cool because he had a truck." He laughed to himself, putting a hand over his mouth.

"Cooper, don't lie," she said, turning around to him. "Don't." He rolled his eyes. She looked miserable trying to explain herself.

"You seriously think I could never be interested in you?" She took another deep breath, trying to contain herself.

"Cooper, I'm not-" she stopped herself again. It suddenly all clicked for him.

"You really don't believe me?" he questioned, shaking his head. "Amelia, I think you're beautiful, and yes, so intelligent that it's scary sometimes, but regardless of where we are or how many people there are, I'd want you," he drew out, giving that edge to the end of a sentence that he sometimes did. How many ways did he have to say it in order for her to believe it? "I haven't thought of anyone this way since my wife."

"And I haven't felt this way about anyone since Wolf. Just," she put her head in her hands. "Just be honest with yourself, Cooper." There was no way that in normal circumstances he would want her and she had decided that a while ago – no matter how attracted she was to him, no matter what he could make her feel again. She'd had enough experience to know that just because you're attracted to someone doesn't mean they feel the same way, and in her case, they almost never did.

_How smart do you have to be in order to be this blind_, Cooper thought. "You want me to be honest with myself? How about you try it with yourself?" he half-yelled, watching her raise her head and look at him fixedly. "You can't accept the fact that someone wants, or even needs you." He began to walk down the hallway toward the door, while Amelia stood still. "I have been intrigued by you since the moment I met you, that's honesty."

"Cooper! Come back!" she said, after finally gathering the courage, running toward him. "I'm not going to constantly chase you after an argument!" He had stopped, his confusion and irritation fully expressed on his face.

"Then talk to me!" he pleaded, turning and whipping his hands around, trying to convey his emotions. "You don't ever want to talk, Amelia. You don't. Got a problem? Let's push it under a rug. If we can't see it, it doesn't exist, right?" He laughed condescendingly. "So it's been 10 years, who cares? I like you for many, many other reasons besides," he couldn't finish the sentence, too angry to continue it. "You can't even wrap your mind around-" he stopped. She was emotionally too far beyond tears and now anger seeped from her pores. "Never mind," he exclaimed, turning back around to leave.

"Cooper, if you don't stop right now, I swear, I'll..." she stopped. She didn't know what she'd do. She never knew what was next with him, and that bothered her to no end.

"What? What, Brand? What are you going to do?" he asked before walking out the door.

* * *

He decided that it was best to stay away from her for a while, give himself enough time to think, and enough time for some sense to kick into her head. His ranger he'd arrived in had basically everything he could ever need for a few nights - he had moved most of it into the unit. He'd let her have the unit to herself for a bit. Maybe she'd miss him, finally realize that there was something serious between them, and it wasn't something forced.

What if she didn't miss him? What if she decided that she was fine on her own? The thought haunted Cooper. He'd thought things were going great and then they weren't. He continued to write, the only thing that was keeping him sane at this point. He looked at the radio on the wall of the shuttle. He could press the button and tell her everything all over again, but it wouldn't make things any different. She was stubborn beyond belief.

"Then, I landed," he was reading his work out loud to himself, thinking that maybe it would distract him. "Dammit, TARS."

"Yes, Cooper?" TARS came over to Cooper. TARS has to know what's going on. "TARS, I know we've kinda talked about this before, but why does Dr. Brand not believe me?" Cooper was desperate to just hear TARS say the words.

"Cooper, I've gathered that Amelia is a complex person. Complexity requires a lot of commitment." TARS waited, letting that statement fully rest on Cooper. "She's confident in her intellectual ability-"

"And nothing else," Cooper said, finishing the sentence. TARS leaned forward slightly, like a nod of agreement. "She doubts absolutely anything that can't be proven in numbers, percentages."

"That's why she finds you appealing, because you're so secure in yourself. I might call it overly-confident." That brought a smirk to his face. _Amelia would probably agree,_ he thought.

"I could rip every single wire out of you, you know," Cooper replied, "but who would I complain to then?"

"Good point," TARS answered.

* * *

"Cooper! Cooper!" he heard over the radio. He had fallen asleep writing. He got up to respond.

"What?" he asked. He heard her sigh over the system.

"I think I heard the barking," she said, referring to the animals like the one they had encountered not too long ago. He knew what she was up to - trying to make him give in, not her. _Fat chance_, he thought. He knew she didn't cool off that quick and he wasn't willing to get into that argument again.

"Nothing to be scared of if you're locked in," he replied, knowing she probably had it protected like Fort Knox. "And I don't hear them." She didn't respond immediately and Cooper seemed to be counting the seconds, the possibility of the radio setting on fire was likely at this rate.

"You don't believe me?" she asked. He slapped his right palm hitting his forehead. How ironic.

"Well, you don't believe me."

She didn't respond at all.

* * *

"Asshole!" she screamed, walking away from the radio. CASE became alert.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Dr. Brand?" CASE questioned, his tone concerned. There was nothing he could do.

"It's nothing, CASE. Don't worry about it, but thanks." She couldn't help but wonder what Cooper was doing over there, besides ignoring her. She'd been going over the conversation in her head, trying to remember not only Cooper's words, but his face when he spoke. Had he looked serious? When he was discussing his feelings, his tone had sounded honest. Maybe he was just a good actor.

But what if he had been serious? What if every single word he said was true? What if this was 90%? No, that had to be his 10%. She wished she had given herself the time to have more experience with this sort of thing. Wolf was the first she had been with and he was the last. Her mission in life wasn't to be with someone, or to be alone, but it was to conquer the odds that life had tossed her way, and she got over those hurdles by making scientific advancements with her father. When he had told her seven years ago that she would be on a new mission, just like the one Wolf had been on, she almost felt relieved, because this basically meant that there would be no urge what-so-ever to break her code. Those seven years, she forgot about anyone else; Amelia was in a relationship with her work.

That had gotten nothing, though, except more heartache. "CASE, I'm going to head to bed."

"Goodnight, Dr. Brand."

"Do not go gentle into that goodnight," she whispered to herself.

* * *

Cooper awoke with a jump to barking noises outside - they were out there, and Amelia hadn't been lying. She's probably scared to death, he thought. He contemplated staying where he was, locked up, or running like a mad man over to the unit to be with Brand. He could play the hero, and go over there, or he could stay here and go back to sleep.

"Why'd you have to teach me to be a somewhat of a gentleman, Mom?" he asked the air, rolling his eyes. He grabbed a gun and his boots before instructing TARS to stay put.

"Where are you off to be a gentleman at, Cooper?" TARS questioned, knowing exactly where he was going. Cooper sat down, putting the boots on.

"Where do you think?" Cooper retorted, tying his boot laces.

"Going to save the day, or rather, the night?" Cooper smiled, ready to head out. He held the gun in his right hand, ready to run over to the unit and shoot these beasts if he had to.

"I guess I am, TARS," he said, opening the door. He looked around from where he was to the door of the unit, checking to see if he saw anything. He knew that if he ran fast enough, he could get to point A to point B in around 30 seconds. He counted down from three silently, running toward the unit.

_Run, runner,_ he thought to himself - lines from a movie that his father had liked. He couldn't see them, and he obviously wasn't going to wait around for them either. _Almost there. C'mon, Coop!_

* * *

Maybe if she told herself to sleep over and over, she would finally get there. However, her mind, like Cooper had said, never turned off. _Wonder what Dad would say if he could see how I'm handling myself right now?_ she thought. She imagined his response would be something along the lines of telling her that she was tough and that she should face her fears.

_I'm not as tough as you believed, obviously_. She rolled over, hoping that the change would make her go to sleep. She'd do anything to hear her father's opinion on Cooper. He obviously must have thought that Cooper was pretty spectacular or he wouldn't have invited him along for the 'adventure' after seeing him for the first time in at least a decade and a half. She couldn't get the guy out of her head.

'My mind wouldn't stop until I saw you again - until I found you', she remembered him saying. _Maybe he was being honest; I'm the one who's lying to myself_. How stupid was she? She had to talk to him in the morning and apologize for the way she had acted.

"Brand?" she heard; Cooper had come back to the unit. "Where are you?"

_Get up and walk out there._

Amelia Brand had learned how to face her fears a long time ago, or at least, the fears she was aware of. She never knew that she could fear herself.

* * *

"I'm right here." Cooper turned around to see Amelia leaning up against her bedroom door frame. He looked at her for a moment before dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Okay, just want to make sure you were good," he said, glancing back up at her. "I ended up hearing the barking, too... Figured I should check in on you." She nodded, looking right back at him.

"You did?" she asked sarcastically, biting her lip. "You could have just used the radio."

"Now that wouldn't have been the gentlemanly thing to do" he responded, that 'cocky charmer' glimmer in his eyes. She smirked, thinking about how that statement pretty much described most of his actions. "I thought you might be a bit nerved up by them, but you're obviously okay," _'Cause I'm sure not,_ he added to himself.

He couldn't stand to be here for another moment if she wasn't going to speak to him, too emotionally done in by her denial to watch her act as if everything was perfectly normal. She was still right in front of him, still staring at him, and he couldn't tell if that was good or bad. She was probably so furious that he hadn't come over when she originally asked that she was trying to use her eyes as daggers, or that's how Cooper had imagined it, at least. "I should have come over here when you first called."

"No, it's fine," she replied. _Just do it already!_ She took a few breaths before speaking up. "Look, Cooper, I'm-"

"Yes?" he asked stiffly, in that low tone that could drive her into a state of either heaven or hell.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier," she said softly, her eyes glued to his. "It was stupid of me to behave that way, to not believe you." His features relaxed and she could tell that he had almost smiled. "I've thought about it all day, and haven't been able to sleep because I've been trying to analyze this whole situation. You know, my brain never turns off," she pointed to her head, referring to their conversation the night before.

"No, it does not," he replied. She smiled, relaxing a bit.

"I was analyzing this," she continued, pointing back and forth to him and back to herself, "and it dawned on me. You said that your mind wouldn't stop until you found me." She took another deep breath, ready to finish what she had planned on saying. "That was 90%. It wasn't 10%. You were being honest." He chuckled, while closing the distance between them and hugging her.

"I like the way you worded that," he whispered into her hair. She didn't speak, but held onto him, figuring that was enough of a reply. "You know, I'm not ready to tell you everything that happened before I got to the station, because," he paused, "well, I'm not really even ready to think about it, but when I do feel that it's the right time, I'm going to tell you, and you're going to realize just how honest I was and am." He took her right hand and held it to his lips, remembering when he had reached through time for that very hand, assuring her that it would all be okay. "You'll see."

If emotion is the only thing that can transcend space and time, it didn't have far to travel between the two of them.


	9. Chapter 9: Bonum Mane

Hello, readers! Sorry for the hiatus, but since the last chapter was posted, I have seen Interstellar two more times. My total amount of times seeing it is really kind of ridiculous, but I can't get enough! Every time I go, I notice something different. Example: the first time I saw it, I knew Cooper was obviously going to find Brand, but I didn't see the possible romance that was there until the second time around - I saw a friendship (because I never think along romantic lines unless driven to it). Watching it over and over gave me the opportunity to analyze the lines in greater depth, and I realized that while it was about the relationship between a father and his daughter, it was also a list of reasons why he should follow what Murph tells him to do in the end. Cooper has a realization and agreement with Brand's description of love's power when it manifests itself physically in the tesseract. Once the tesseract breaks down and he sees her again, it was not only a handshake, but I felt as if it was a 'thank you.' That has inspired me for the past month and a half. What are your opinions on that? I'd love to know.

Also... thank you all for the lovely reviews. Keep reviewing, because I love the advice. It helps me out with the direction of the story. Here's Chapter 9, and I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 9: Bonum Mane

"What's going on between you and Dr. Brand?" TARS asked. Cooper chuckled - TARS never ceased to give him a good laugh.

"Ha! Nice try, buddy," Coop responded, "but I don't kiss and tell."

"You just did, _buddy_," TARS said mockingly. Cooper smirked, looking at the animal tracks in the dirt. This was both a good and bad development - good because it gave them more to research, bad because that meant that they were coming closer to the camp than they had originally thought.

"Hey, TARS, make yourself useful and take some pictures of those tracks, instead of wondering what I do when you and CASE aren't around." If TARS had eyes to roll, he would have done it just then.

"You tell me everything; you'll crack eventually," TARS muttered sarcastically.

Cooper knelt down near the dirt, careful not to mess up the evidence. Those prints definitely matched the paws of the animal he'd shot down a few weeks ago. "She's not gonna like this," he whispered to himself.

"Not going to like what?" he heard. He shook his head, getting up and turning around. Amelia stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

"What are you doing out here?" He'd never seen her come over this far from the unit.

"Don't avoid the subject, Cooper. What am I not going to like?" He could tell that she probably already knew what she was going to see.

"God, you don't wanna know," he exclaimed, pointing down at the tracks. "Guess you have to find out, though." Her eyes widened, the fear quickly showing up on her face.

"They were this close?" she asked frantically. They were roughly 100 yards away from the unit. "I thought they were probably at the edge of the woods last week when we heard them. Shit."

"Yeah, shit sounds about right, but if we're not out here when they're out here, they can't get us. I'll just leave TARS out here and they can stab him with their antlers," he explained, whispering the last part.

"I heard that!" TARS was coming toward them. "Dr. Brand, I have collected data from the prints. I can brief you on them now if you would like," TARS detailed, knowing that was the kind of news she wanted to hear.

"Thank you, TARS. Later, though." TARS went back toward the prints, appearing to be measuring the area of dirt. "So you just now found the tracks?"

"Yep. I was over this way yesterday and they definitely weren't here then. That means they were here probably sometime last night, too, if I was to guess." Amelia closed her eyes in disbelief.

"I thought for sure that they probably stayed in the woods, you know, with some trees to conceal themselves. They can't be the only animals here, Cooper. They're clearly carnivores based on those teeth – they're not eating berries, flitting though the forest and letting birds sit on their antlers. They aren't sweet." She took a deep breath before speaking again. Cooper was too busy trying to imagine these animals being gentle, letting the birds rest on them.

"We need to set up that probe again," he stated, looking back at the prints. "The probe you had out when I came here." She tilted her head in agreement.

"Let's go ahead and do that now," she suggested, turning around to walk back toward the unit.

"Wait up!" Cooper yelled toward her. TARS began to follow. "TARS stay here."

"I figured you would say that," TARS replied. Cooper rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

* * *

"So we've got the probe set up; that's good," Amelia said wearily. "We should be able to get footage, find out how many are in a typical pack within the next two weeks."

"The one we got was a male, so we need to get data on the females," Cooper stated, making a list on the marker board. "Something tells me that they're pretty vicious, too." Amelia sat down at one of the desks, laying her head down.

"I just want to get this data, Coop. I know that they're not going to destroy us or our equipment if we don't give them the chance, but I am absolutely terrified of those things. They look mean, and if I understand them better, maybe they won't look so 'mean' to me."

"Well, they are mean, Brand. They're meant to be frightening – that's part of their game with the other animals. They aren't fluffy and cute, like you said, they aren't letting birds land on them. They would get nowhere if they weren't intimidating," he detailed. "That's how the food chain works, you know that." Cooper watched her get up from the desk, looking out the window, the night fully set in.

"I keep having nightmares about that night," she admitted, stuffing her hands into her pockets, "you know, when you ran from them – with me tossed over your shoulder." Cooper was silent, wondering why she hadn't told him earlier. "I just relive the whole thing, always waking up before we get to the door. I can hear the barking noises so clearly in my sleep. Heck, maybe I've heard them barking and just assumed it was my imagination," she chuckled, turning back around, smiling at him.

"There's only evil where we bring it, remember?" Cooper responded, going back to staring at the marker board. "A little bit of fear can't hurt you." She couldn't agree more. "You should just walk across the hall and come get in bed with me if you have a nightmare. My door is always open." Amelia heartily laughed, walking away from the window, toward him.

"Is that so?" she questioned, smirking at Cooper.

"Oh, yes. Or I could just walk across the hall to your room; whatever's the most convenient for you." She laughed again, putting a hand on his arm. She looked up at him, amusement written all over her face.

"I'm good at sarcastic comebacks, not flirty ones," Amelia admitted, "but, thank you. I would actually enjoy having someone to talk to after a nightmare; that is, if you're serious."

"Trust me, a man doesn't joke about a subject like that," he exclaimed, reaching for the small of her back. "Really though, if you want to talk, I'm just across the hall." He hoped she took him up on the offer. "How're the muscle spasms?"

"Still a bitch to put up with." They only subsided if she took a muscle relaxer and Cooper rubbed the kinks out. "Just not as often. I did some weird stretch that I thought would help, and it worked for a while."

"Unfortunately, unless your life gets less stressful, you'll still have those muscle spasms, but you know what could de-stress you a little bit? Walking across the hall," he explained, keeping a straight face.

"You are terrible!" she laughed, playfully smacking him in the arm. He smiled, watching her walk away. "Typical man."

"What did you expect?" he questioned as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I know that you're a total alpha male," she replied, turning back around. "Not that it's a bad thing. That's what makes a good leader, alpha qualities." She was so scientific, but there was something beyond scientific about the way she thought.

"Alpha male? That sounds primitive." He caught her smiling.

"If the shoe fits," she explained in a joking tone.

* * *

"Steady, steady," he said. "Look with your right eye to shoot, since that's your dominant side." She held the gun, trying to hold the gun the way Cooper had advised. "Okay, you're lined up. Fire." She pulled the trigger, the loud 'bang' echoing off the mountains. "Good shot, Brand. Didn't hit anywhere near the target but you're learning."

"This is so difficult," she exclaimed, "worth it, but difficult." He smirked at the admission. "Am I making a fool of myself here, Cooper?" He could tell she was trying.

"Well I'm the only one here to laugh at you." She frowned, still knowing it had been a joke. A breeze came through, welcomed to alleviate the new sun's warmth. _That's nice_, Cooper thought, acknowledging the breeze. He had been looking up at the sky, admiring the shade of blue, before looking back at Amelia. _That's nice, too_.

"What are you staring at?" She'd caught him and he didn't care.

"You," he said flatly, no explanation needed. "You look kind of cute trying to shoot that gun."

"That sounds like an insult," she suggested, further examining the weapon. "Keep in mind that while I might be a terrible shot, you are exceptionally close."

"Ow, ow, ow!" he howled, "Brand's gettin' aggressive." He closed the small distance between them and took the gun from her. "For both of our safeties," he justified, smiling at her.

"Now, come on, Cooper! You know I wouldn't." He shook his head, looking over the gun, now in his hands.

"I know that, but I like to irritate you sometimes," he explained, walking away from her. She scoffed, kicking the dirt.

"Only sometimes?" he heard. He laughed, stopping in his tracks to turn around, putting the gun down on the ground. She knew just how to reel him in, and he knew how to get to her, too.

"What'd you say?" he asked, trying to keep himself from grinning, slowly moving toward her. "Come on, now." She was smiling back, waiting on him to reach her. His tone was flirtatious, enough to convey what was on his mind.

"You think you're going to win me over like that? No, no," she retorted, crossing her arms. "You aren't going to win this one."

"But I always win." He gently tried to uncross her arms . He loved how her eyes lit up when he joked around with her. "Now play nice." She laughed again, still not uncrossing her arms.

"Play nice?" she questioned. "You never play fair." He smiled, crossing his arms in return.

"Who said I was trying to play fair?" She deliberately rolled her eyes at that statement, watching him wait in anticipation of her next move.

"Well, in that case," she said, slowly walking away, relaxing, "I should go grab the gun!" She ran and took the gun from the ground, knowing Cooper would no doubt catch up to her sooner or later.

"Brand!" He laughed, chasing after her.

* * *

He heard his door creak open, waking him up. "Hey there." He rolled over and there she was, her big, wide eyes popping out from behind the door.

"Hey to you, too," he replied groggily, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "To what do I owe the honor?" She walked out from behind the door, closing it.

"Nightmares," she whispered. "I woke up in a sweat." He sat up, and patted his hand down for her to sit next to him on the bed.

"That bad?" She put her head in her hands, elbows on her thighs.

"I just miss home sometimes. We wouldn't have to be worrying about those guys if we were home," she breathed, referring to the beasts. He put a hand on her back, gently scratching up and down to soothe her. "But, I mean, we'd be long dead by now if we had stayed, right? So what's the use?"

He sighed, agreeing. "I think about it all the time, and what we left, but," he paused, running his fingers over his lips, sealed in a tight line. _I left Tom and Murph - everything I had left in the world._ He turned to look at her. "But we did the right thing." She looked up at him and weakly smiled.

"I hope so." She leaned on him as he put an arm around her, both of them thinking about the lives they left behind. She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Is your offer still on the table?"

"Always."

* * *

How had they managed to get this tangled up? She had fallen asleep on her back, arms at her side. It had taken a while for him to fall back asleep, too busy looking at her face in such a peaceful state. Now she was on her stomach, half of her body covering his. This was a great way to wake up, and if he could wake up like this every morning - if she would allow it - he would be all about it.

_Jesus,_ Cooper thought. Her left hand lightly gripped the fabric of his t-shirt, her head on his shoulder, and his left arm was wrapped around her. She still had that same peaceful look on her face, as if everything was perfectly normal, and somehow, he felt as if they were getting closer and closer to that every day. He closed his eyes again, hoping to get more sleep.

* * *

His eyes worked their way open, greeted by a pleasant sight.

"Hey." Amelia was looking right at him, still in the same position she was in when he had gone back to sleep.

"Hey," he responded, moving his right hand over to hold the hand that gripped his shirt. "Sleep okay?"

"Yeah." She sighed, turning her head to yawn into his shoulder, and as soon as she was finished, shifted her head back to where it had been. "You?"

_The best I have in years,_ he wanted to say. "Same," he replied, never taking his eyes off of her. She half smiled, pulling her hand out from under Cooper's, only to switch places, her fingers lacing over his knuckles. She hummed to herself, some tune he recognized but couldn't name. She nestled into him further.

"I like this," she admitted, her voice remained a whisper. Cooper still had his arm around her, spreading out his hand on her back.

"Me, too." She nodded at his response, uncovering his hand to run her fingers over his forehead, back and forth. "That feels nice," he stated quietly, closing his eyes, causing her to pull her hand back. "Why'd you stop?" Her fingers were back to his forehead, edging his hairline. "There we go." He opened his eyes again, watching her. "You're quiet," he noticed, the hand on her back mimicking the actions of her fingers.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, confused, but still managing a smile.

"Nah, the silence is nice." She swatted him in the head playfully, causing him to chuckle. "Kidding!" he exclaimed, taking hold of her hand, intertwining his fingers with her own. "Kidding."

"Sure." He couldn't get over her. He'd forgotten how a moment this simple could be this perfect, and hoped she was appreciating this time as much as he was.

"No nightmares?" He waited for an answer, watching her reopen her still-drowsy eyes.

"None," she answered, staring at him.

"I'm glad," Cooper whispered, bringing the hand he held to rest closer to his heart. She could feel each soft beat, so smooth that the rhythm could have lulled her back to sleep.

"I don't want to get up," she said in a breath, exhaling. He smiled softly, watching her.

"Who said you had to?" Amelia rolled her eyes and buried her head back into his shoulder. He laughed, his hand moving from her back to her hair, causing her to shift back to face him. "That's better."

She smiled gently, closing her eyes again. Cooper pulled her even closer to him, if that was possible, her face in the crook of his neck.

* * *

His scent was intoxicating, she had decided after laying there awake for five minutes. Not a word was spoken as his left hand rested on the back of her neck, and his right hand held hers. She could ignore the work to be done if this is how she could spend the rest of the day.

"Amelia?" Cooper asked. She lifted up from her position, hovering over him.

"Yes?" She was curious as to what this could be about.

"You really don't have to get up if you don't want to." She stayed there, as if there was nothing strange or different about staring at each other for minutes on end.

"I don't." That brought a faint smile to his lips. _How had this happened?_ he asked himself. Like every moment he would ever have again for the rest of his life, he wondered if there was some deeper meaning to this, if someone had planned it, possibly.

"Good," he said, her lips coming down to his, meeting in a gentle kiss. She put her head back on his chest, closing her eyes. "And another thing..."

"What?" she questioned again, opening her eyes and watching him smirk, knowing he had something amusing to say.

"Just because I said you could stay doesn't mean you can go back to sleep." She suppressed a laugh, burying her head into the crook of his neck again.

"Oh, brother!" She could hear and feel him chuckle. "For 120-something, you sure never lost the drive."

She raised up once more, kissing him again, holding his head in her hands. To her, this felt like the same happiness she'd experienced with Wolf, but somehow different. Cooper's entire focus was on her, and she knew it, versus being somewhere else, lost in a daydream or some project. He was there and in the moment, just like he was with everything. They broke apart for air, eyes fixed on the other.

He felt her relax against him. The move surprised him, but it was welcomed, nonetheless. For someone that he knew was not terribly affectionate, this morning might have been changing his opinion on the subject.

She had closed her eyes again, liking just where they were at the moment - Cooper did, too. His left hand continued up and down her back, pushing her back into sleep. _If this is going to be every morning, we'll never get anything done,_ he thought.

He wondered what went on behind those closed eyes - what did she think about? Did she ever wonder when the others would get here? Did she ever think about those Plan B embryos and when she'd start the incubation, or was she ignoring them now that she knew that people were safe on the stations?

"Cooper, we have things to do," Amelia spoke with eyes still closed.

"Aw, now come on, Amelia, have a little fun!" He pulled her back on top of him as she tried to get out of the bed, making her laugh.

"This... this... we are acting like children!" She couldn't stop laughing, enjoying this moment with him.

"That's how people act when they're not stressed out 24/7, Brand," he replied, pushing her bangs from her face.

"I have never had a stressless day in my entire existence," she muttered. "My whole life story is pretty much an indicator of my stress level." She did work well under pressure.

"What if it didn't have to be that way, though? What if you could just exist without worry?" he questioned, waiting for her response.

"If we existed without worry, we would have never left Earth, and even with all the heartache and hassle, I'd say we're better off for it," she retorted, "I know it's weird, and maybe you don't feel the same way." He did, oddly enough. He still felt guilty for missing out on Tom and Murph's lives, but he did what had to be done for humanity. If he had never left, Murph wouldn't have had the ability to finish Professor Brand's equation, saving everyone.

"I agree," he said, holding her hand.

* * *

Amelia had gotten up and walked over to her room to get ready, as Cooper still sat on the bed. He waited until she was gone to hold up his left hand in front of him, looking at his ring.

_It's time_. He pulled off the band and put it in one of his cabinets in a safe place where he knew he could see it every day.

"Cooper!" he heard from across the hall. "Are you getting ready? We don't have all day!" He faintly smiled to himself.

_Jill would approve._


	10. Chapter 10: Imber

Hello again, friends! Here is chapter 10! Thank you all for the lovely reviews - you know I love them! They're what inspired me to get this chapter out so quickly. Happy reading!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco **  
Chapter 10: Imber

Cooper constantly felt like he was doing something wrong with Amelia. Was he saying the wrong things? He hadn't played this game in years, and neither had she, but he knew he had a lot more game than she did. She pretty much made it clear that she didn't even care about having 'game'. She had not spent the night with him again since that night, and she hadn't asked him to make the trek across the hall. He hadn't had any nightmares either, so there was really no excuse to go over there and interrupt her sleep just to try and be close to her. _She is too practical for her own good. _

Now he played the waiting game. When would she make this a regular thing? He sure wasn't about to initiate it - this was a woman who had made it very clear that she was beyond independent. Cooper knew that when she wanted him, she made it known. She was really good at mixing her fierceness with her shyer side, which was super appealing, but it drove him crazy wondering what she was going to do next.

"How long are you going to shower, Brand?" he questioned loudly so she could hear him through the door.

"I'm shaving my legs – takes up some time!" He heard her yell.

"Gross," he replied, knowing she couldn't hear him. His eyes lit up at remembering when she'd asked him a very similar question. He walked back into the common area, sitting at his desk. "Brand, Brand, Brand." He looked over at her nicely organized desk, his completely cluttered. "Says a lot about me, doesn't it?" he asked himself out loud as he heard the shower turn off. He began trying to tidy up his desk, slightly embarrassed by its state. He stacked the notebooks and books in separate piles, and put his tablet and stylus off by themselves.  
"Looks better," he whispered to himself, just as Amelia walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed. "You ready?"

"I am," she replied, walking toward the door. "You coming?"

"I'll be there in a second." She nodded, heading out. He grabbed the tablet, waking it up.

_By now, we've witnessed only a few of the grave realities of this planet, but I know that our journey is far from over,_ he wrote before going outside himself.

* * *

"The greenhouse is looking good, Coop," she said, walking back outside, trailing Cooper.

"I did farm for, oh, 16 years, Amelia," he responded, smiling, "but thank you." Cooper stopped in his tracks, looking and pointing up to the sky. "Rain clouds." Amelia halted beside him, looking up.

"Wow!" That childlike wonder that had stayed with her after all the pain came alive. He loved to watch her when she was amazed by something. "I just assumed all the water here was coming from underneath the surface, that it probably rained on some other area of the planet, that that's how the trees got water," she muttered, watching the rain fall down miles away, the clouds slowly approaching them. "This isn't a total desert."

"Apparently not," he exclaimed, still looking back up. "Well, I'll be damned, Amelia." Rain was something so simple, but to them it was so appreciated. They stood there, ready to get soaked, looking up until the rain hit them – huge drops like a big storm, thunder in the distance.

"Might wanna get back in the unit," Cooper yelled, the rain hitting the ground so loud that each droplet was like a coin.

"Okay!," Amelia screamed back, both of them running toward the unit. Cooper held up his hand to scan.

"Whew!" Cooper said, leaning up against the wall just inside. "That was…" he paused, trying to find the words, "amazing. Never thought I'd appreciate rain that much."

"It was like home." Cooper liked that statement, because the more it felt like home, the more it became home.

Amelia walked further into the unit toward her room, but came to a halt. "Well, look who cleaned their desk up!" she exclaimed sarcastically, running her fingers over Cooper's desk. "I am impressed."

"I saw yours and felt bad that you had to look at my mess everyday." She smiled up at him before walking away from the desk.

"Sweet, but not necessary," she half-whispered as she disappeared into her room.

* * *

They had changed out of their wet clothes into dry ones. "What needs to be done today?"

"We're alone - that we know of - on a planet, save for these two jarheads," Cooper said, pointing to TARS and CASE who were side by side, "so I don't think there is that much to do." She rolled her eyes in protest.

"TARS and I resent that statement," CASE exclaimed. Amelia and Cooper both turned to look at the robots before facing each other again.

"No, I mean work-wise," she said, sitting down. "There has to be something we can accomplish."

"Even if there is, pretend there isn't, okay?" Cooper asked, sitting down across from her. "I know we took a break not too terribly long ago, but I think humanity can survive if we relax every now and then." She squinted her eyes at him – the way she did when she was frustrated.

"That's awfully grim to say, considering our situation." Cooper huffed. _Got yourself into another mess, bud._

"I didn't mean it like that," he retorted, "I just mean that we'll work better if we don't stress ourselves too much, and your muscle spasms, keep that in mind." She relaxed her face, nodding. "You just told me about five days ago that you didn't know life without stress. Well, here it is, just waiting on you to test out!" He got a giggle from her out of that one.

"You know, I haven't mentioned this because I think it's awkward to talk about, but I might as well get it out of the way. I honestly can't imagine myself, um, well," she paused, rolling her lips in, "but what about the fertilized eggs? I check on them every day, and they're fine; I just... I know that there are obviously people alive, tons, thanks to Murphy, but is it selfish of me that I don't want to start that up yet?" Cooper laughed, looking at Amelia. Her face looked as if she were disgusted at herself for evening saying that.

"You are a biologist, Brand! What's the big deal about talking about it?" She shook her head furiously. "Isn't this like, your field of study?"

"I believed so strongly that Plan A would work that I never even took the time to think about the possibility of having to go through with Plan B. Talking about myself taking care of infants, even if they were incubated, and I don't have it give birth to them, it still freaks me out." She was serious, he could tell. "I always knew that it would be selfish of me to have children, considering my job, and I thought Wolf and I would have eventually been married, but I've known since I was 18 that this was what I would be doing with my life, and-" She chuckled, burying her head in her hands. "I just can't imagine myself...," she muttered, "I just don't see myself as the mothering type." She got up and grabbed a blanket from the cabinet "Want one?"

"Nah, I'm good right now," he said as she closed the cabinet door. "Thanks, though, it was a motherly thing to ask." She sat back down in the seat she had left, covering up.

"Ha-ha, Cooper," she retorted, sinking into the chair. "Hopefully we can save those eggs for people who want children and can't have them on their own for one reason or another, you know, once other people get here."

Cooper smiled at that - people hadn't been having children like that since, well, when he was born. That technology was gone to the general public by the time he was 10, at least. He suspected that it was back in full force now that the stations were running. "Those eggs are going to be older than anyone who would carry them, then. Kind of weird to think about, that someone could be having a baby that had the egg been fertilized naturally would be old enough to be their grandparent."

"Welp, relativity," she whispered, locking eyes with him. "I'm sorry." He knew what she meant.

"That's just how it is." She agreed, still watching him. She took in a deep breath, touching her face. "No need to apologize."

"I believe that," she started, "my father must have thought the world of you to send you on this mission without seeing you in over a decade and a half." She tried to find the words. "He knew your drive, passion, enthusiasm for this." She pointed up, waving her hand. "You were never prepared to die like Mann, Miller, Wolf, any of them. He knew that. You've got that desire to survive." He half smiled, thinking about all he'd given up, yet all he'd gained. He thought about holding her hand as she went through the wormhole, letting her know that they would be fine. "That's what he was looking for."

The silence was thick now, resting on the hopes of a spoken word.

"You've got it too, Brand." He paused, looking out the window at the fading light. "Or else he wouldn't've sent his only child out into the wild. He had faith in this, even though he never had faith in Plan A. He had faith in us."

"Wonder how many years have passed on the station by now, compared to here?" she questioned, obviously avoiding the subject of her father, something that was becoming increasingly hard for her to internally deal with.

"That's scary to think about," Cooper replied. "I could have great-great-grand children for all we know."

"Well, you don't look that old," Amelia said, wondering what he would say back.

"Don't flatter him," TARS said, beating Cooper to a response.

"TARS, what does he have your humor setting at?" Amelia enquired. Cooper waited to hear TARS, interested at what else he might say.

"65% right now, Cooper's is only at about 50%," TARS replied, bringing a smile to Cooper's face.

"That'll be enough, TARS," he said, watching TARS go back next to CASE. "TARS is a character." Amelia was silent, staring at the wall. "Have you checked out the footage from the probe?" Cooper inquired, looking out the window from his chair. He knew that the answer was most likely 'no'.

"I'm just not up to it yet," she paused,

* * *

She looked kind of peaceful, just like she had a few nights ago, except now she was wide awake. The dark had settled in, the rain gone.

"You know it'll be messy by tomorrow, right?" Cooper said. Amelia smirked, looking back at the desk.

"Eh, I'll live," she replied as she brought her feet up into the chair.

"How un-type-A of you, Amelia." She fixed her eyes on him, trying to keep the humor from showing up in her eyes. "Those death glares or your attempt to block a laugh?"

"You would hate it if I wasn't type-A," she answered, watching his reaction. She was figuring out more and more how to push his buttons.

"Oh, really?" She nodded. "How?"

"Well, if I wasn't type-A, I wouldn't be as organized, and that's important to the mission, but not everyone is supposed to be type-A. Not only do you possess alpha-like qualities, but you're quite creative. Creativity is also necessary for the mission," she said, "and just because I haven't been dictating the orderliness of your desk doesn't mean I'm letting you turn the unit in to a man cave." He laughed loudly, covering his face with his hands.

"Eh, I'll live," he replied, repeating her words from earlier. "By the way, you sounded like a mom just then."

"Shut up, Cooper!" she laughed back, throwing a pillow at him.

* * *

_She hasn't noticed_, he thought, referring to his lack of ring. _That or she's not saying anything about it._ It had been a few days since he'd taken it off.

And the reason was directly across from him, her eyes begging for sleep, he could tell. Ever since that morning, he'd been even more positive, if that possible, that he was making the right decision. He'd decided that Amelia was one of those people that didn't want anyone holding her hand until someone grabbed it without her noticing, upset when the closeness was gone, which meant if she was getting used to this, there was no going back.

He definitely didn't want to go back, and if she didn't either, that'd be just fine with him. They had talked about their feelings for each other that one night, but ever since then, it had just been mellow, which had its own pluses and minuses. She knew he was serious, and he knew she was, too, but she'd figure out just how serious he was once she noticed that his ring was gone. The ring, except for the watch, was the last thing that connected him to his past life.

He glanced over at her, noticing that she was now asleep, her face buried into the small couch. "Can't have you sleeping here," he whispered ever so softly, picking her up. She stirred, pulling back to look at him.

"What's going on?" she asked, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"You fell asleep," Cooper whispered, opening her bedroom door, walking toward her bed. "I'm gonna tuck you in, okay?" She didn't reply, either too tired to or already back asleep. He pulled back the covers, gently laying her down. "There we go." He pulled the sheet back up over her. He looked at her one last time before turning to leave.

"Stay." In the pitch black room, he felt thin fingers wrap around his wrist - Amelia's forever cold, thin fingers.

_S.T.A.Y._, Cooper thought, knowing she had no idea what that word, those four letters in that order, meant to him.

"Okay," he replied, slowly crawling in next to her, her fingers still latched on to him.

"Goodnight, Coop." No sooner had she said goodnight, she instantly fell back to sleep.

"Night, Amelia," he whispered, hoping that sleep would come sooner rather than later.


	11. Chapter 11: Fateor

Hello, my lovelies! I hope everyone has recovered from our Oscars snubs (because I haven't), but the show must go on. I am DYING to see this fandom grow, and I want to know how we can all work together to make it so (see what I did there?). Let's do it! We will not go unnoticed!

I have been writing this chapter for weeks, so I hope you all enjoy it. Please review - I love your feedback, the good and bad! If you have questions, message me, and I'll try not to give you too many spoilers. There's something in this chapter that's going to confuse some people, but that's what makes for a good story in my opinion.

Also, thank you to everyone else who is writing_ Interstellar_ fics, here and on AO3. I've genuinely enjoyed almost all that I've read, and I know others do, too.

Now, on with the show!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco **  
Chapter 11: Fateor

Cooper drifted somewhere between sleep and consciousness, back and forth. He was woken up by the sounds of the beasts outside, hoping that Amelia didn't hear them. He knew how terrified she would be. He quickly drifted back to sleep.

"Cooper! Cooper!" She was gripping and shaking his arms. "They're back!" He was fully brought out of his slumber by a panicked Amelia.

"Shhhh, it's okay," he whispered, his hand on her back reassuring, "Go back to sleep - I got ya." He noticed that they were in nearly the same position to the one they had been in a few nights ago, and he liked it. He wasn't about to let those damn things interrupt this.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" She pulled away, crawling over him to get out of the bed. "I'm going to look at the live probe footage." She practically ran from the room to find CASE. "CASE! Wake up!" she said hurriedly, "Live probe!" CASE did as told, broadcasting the imagine onto his screen.

Cooper had slowly gotten up out of the bed, rubbing his eyes. "Jesus," he quietly muttered to himself, walking out of the room. Amelia was standing in front of CASE, arms crossed. AS she talked to the robot, her voice sounded so clear that it was almost like she had never been asleep. He was now behind her, his hands on her waist. "Look, Cooper! There's at least seven of them in this pack." She suddenly began pointing all over the screen, seeming not to notice or care that he was touching her. "Six females, one male."

"Well, alright, alright, alright," Cooper chuckled. "Looks like he's got a nice little setup there; a 6 to 1 ratio? Lucky guy." He knew that Amelia probably found all sorts of faults in that comment. "He's full-grown it looks like, based on those antlers. Makes the one we dissected look like a damn weakling." He was rolling his fingers on her now, attempting to convince her to go back to bed. He was tired and knew she was too, but the fact that he liked being so close to her wasn't hurting his cause.

Cooper stopped his fingers and pointed at the screen. "They've got somethin'," he exclaimed, "CASE, zoom in." CASE did as told, focusing in on one of the females, an animal dangling from its teeth.

"What in the world..." Amelia put a hand over her mouth. She was still staring, trying to figure out what this creature could be. "It looks like a small bear. Full grown but a really small bear," Amelia said, turning around to Cooper. "That sounds too cute and cuddly for here."

He placed his hands back on her waist, still in love with the idea of what sat beneath his fingers. "Well, there were once cute and cuddly animals on Earth, Brand, so what'd you expect from a similar environment?" Cooper yawned into his shoulder. "Hey, we gotta sleep. CASE is and has been recording this, and you don't wanna lose sleep over a damned teddy bear." He attempted to pull her into him but she broke away in protest.

"It's scientific discovery Cooper, not a stuffed animal. We now know of two species, that's double what we knew yesterday. Do you expect me to sleep when I could be analyzing the live feed?" Cooper kind of liked how she looked when she was aggravated.

"Yes, I do," he replied as he grabbed her hand. "Now come on, Amelia. You can have your fun in the morning. It'll be waiting on ya, I promise." She rolled her eyes, swiping her bangs to the side. He was giving her one of those looks that could make her drunk, constantly needing more of that gaze.

"You," she pointed at him, freeing her hand from his, "this will get you in trouble one day." Amelia patted him on the back as she walked back into her room, Cooper following her. "It's going to take me forever to get back to sleep, you know," she exclaimed. "I am still too excited." He shut the door, never taking his eyes off of her.

"You'd be surprised." He waited on her to crawl in first before turning out the light.

"Cooper," she called out for him as she covered back up.

"Yes?" She felt him slide in beside her.

"Thanks for staying over here with me." Amelia was thankful that he was there with her, finding it frightening to imagine her life without him again.

"No problem, sorry we haven't broken out Jenga or told ghost stories with a flashlight yet." That got a laugh out of Amelia. They were more similar than they appeared on the surface.

"We haven't even played truth or dare. Damn, we really need to pick it up. This is getting to be a boring sleepover," she managed to get out in her laughter.

"Brand, you calling me boring?" He knew that wasn't what she had meant at all, just testing her. "Me boring? Really?"

"Here we go," she huffed, sitting up, looking down at him. Even in the dark, he was able to see her smile, and he reached up to cup her face.

"If you come back down here I can show you how not-boring I am." She turned away from him, looking up. "Brand, I can tell when you're blushing even in the dark." He reached around finally finding her thigh under the covers, causing her to jolt. She began laughing again, his hand still on her. "Jumpy, too. Good God, Amelia, we gotta lot of work to do!" he exclaimed playfully, pulling her back down next to him.

"You are the worst," she said, enjoying the feeling of being somewhat surrounded by him.

"I can't be that bad or else you wouldn't want me in here." His words were soft, trying to plan his next move, as he always did. He ran his fingers up and down her arm.

_The cocky charmer is alive and well,_ she thought. "Well, I do like having you here," she admitted, facing him. "This is the one thing here that feels normal to me."

"Yeah, this is good." He gently smiled back, tugging her over to him. "You okay with this? If you aren't, just tell me." She stayed where she was, trying to prove to him and herself that she could do this again. She wanted to feel close to him, and rolled over, her back against his chest.

"Cooper, I'm fine," she muttered, feeling his arms adjust around her. "You're warm, I like this." She was becoming addicted to him.

"You're always cold, so go figure." She smiled as she closed her eyes, her head resting on her pillow. "But I don't mind. Never will."

There in the dark with Cooper, she felt safe. She had been safe at NASA headquarters, and it had provided security, but it never made her feel safe. Being incased in a concrete box hadn't been easy, but Cooper made everything feel less harsh, and she was grateful for it. She was falling for him more and more with each passing moment, constantly remembering when they'd first met, how she had immediately decided that he was trouble. Then that opinion changed as soon as they stepped onto the ship for take off - knowing what all he had left behind was crushing, because she felt the same way about leaving her father. It was necessary, but it was heart wrenching. Her opinion evolved even more as time went on. When he made sure CASE rescued her on Miller's planet, when he fell into Gargantua to save her, when he traveled back out into space to find her, and after he saved them both from the beasts... those were all arguments that helped change her mind. Here with him right now, she felt safe for the first time in years, letting her guard fade away slowly but surely. Whatever you could label this relationship that they had, she liked it.

She clutched his left arm to her body, trying to get more comfortable. "Thank you for coming out here to find me," she spoke quietly. "I don't think I ever formally thanked you, and if I did, just let me say it again." She ran her fingers over the fabric of the long sleeve shirt he was wearing. "You were so selfless and brave, and still are. I can't imagine what shape I'd be in right now had it not been for you being here with me. You just make me feel safe." Still holding her, she turned in his embrace and pulled herself up to his face to kiss him.

There was nothing better than hearing that you were needed. Cooper kissed her back, knowing that an admission like that from Amelia Brand carried much more weight than the words it came with. "I will always protect you," he whispered, before he kissed her neck where he could feel her pulse. She brought her lips in, biting them gently, the feeling so heavenly that it almost caused pain. "I want you to feel safe."

He didn't think he could wait any longer; he had to tell her. This was a huge step for him, because it wasn't letting go or moving on, it was a new book, filled with hundreds of thousands of blank pages for him to fill. What they had with each other - he knew that even in a world filled with people, he'd never find another like her, just like there was never going to be another Jill. That was how it was supposed to be.

You need to tell her. "Can we talk?" he asked her quietly, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Of course." She settled back into a comfortable position, moving just far enough away from him that she could see his face. He could make out her form again, acknowledging how nearly perfect she was to him, the person he wanted to be with.

"So, the other morning after you'd spent the night," he paused, still trying to find the courage to say the words, "I thought about our lives and that we're probably never gonna leave this place." _God, Coop, you are terrible at this_, he thought. "And I thought about how we'll never fully move on, or let go, and we shouldn't; where we come from and the lives we led will always be a part of us. Why ignore it, you know?"

"Yes," she agreed, reaching out for him, her thumb moving over his cheek.

"And I thought about what Murph said, that I needed to come out here and find you, which I would have anyway, but I also thought about what Jill told me before she died and what my father-in-law told me at least three times a week." He smiled at the thought of Donald telling him what he should be doing, and here he was, finally going for it. "To be happy." She nodded, waiting on him to continue. "And I'm happy, even with all this darkness we both got trailin' behind us, but, I can't help but feel like this is our second shot, Amelia. Like we're getting a second chance because someone wants us to, needs us to." He could tell that she was stunned. "Okay if I continue?"

"Yeah." Cooper could hear the weakness in her voice. He took her hand in his once more, trying to buy himself some time.

"I know I don't talk about Murph and Tom too much, but just saying their names even hurts." He waited again. "You know, Jill and I named Murph after Murphy's Law, and at the time, I knew of one way that it applied to my life. Now it applies to everything, absolutely everything." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Jill told me that she wanted me to be happy and that I'd know when the time was right, that Tom and Murph would be happier just at seeing me happy. Now, I see what she meant - I know what they all meant."

Amelia was still, and he couldn't tell if that was good or bad, but he guessed he'd have to deal with the consequences regardless. "Once you left the other morning, I took my ring off, and put it away somewhere that I can see it whenever I want to."

"Cooper," she whispered with a blend of sadness, amazement, awe and shock. "You didn't-" Her voice trailed off to a place where her heart took over for her words.

"Amelia, this is our second chance and I can't live in the past. I'm always gonna think about Jill and Tom and Murph, just like you're always going to think about your dad and Edmunds, and we'll have some really bad days when we cry a lot and don't want to talk, but the past will always be there for us to look at," he continued, thinking about the past, how he had actually seen it. "I don't wanna live in the past."

* * *

"We are never going to get this finished," Moses muttered as she backed up from the touchboard, quickly scanning the formula. She walked out of the room and into the hallway, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. "It's a fucking disaster."

She quickly arrived at the atrium, desperate to get back to her apartment to sleep. She stopped to look at the shrine-like portrait that hung of the late, great Murphy Cooper - that picture had been at headquarters ever since she could remember. _What would Murphy do?,_ she asked herself. How was she going to keep this a secret from everyone that mattered? _Get it together, Mose._

At 24 years old, she was married to her work. She didn't give herself time for sleep, let alone family or friends. Her mother had been begging her to come over and visit, but she knew that she'd get a lecture about exhausting herself and how it wasn't a good idea. _No,_ she thought,_ it's necessary._

* * *

"I'm happy, despite the odds," he managed, trying to hold it together, "and after what I've experienced, I know that it's not just by chance that I'm here with you right now." He was finally letting her know what he had been bottling up inside for weeks.

Amelia kissed him softly, pulling away to speak. "I'm happy, too."

He smiled, chuckling, hugging her to him. "You're not just playin' with my emotions here?" He broke away, only to hover over her, determined to hear her say it again. "Amelia, I can't handle that, you know. You can't do that to me. Not now, not ever." Cooper was still looking at her, stunned and thrilled that she did indeed feel the same way. "I need you," he whispered, his nose touching hers. "Say it again."

"I'm happy," she exclaimed, each knowing that things were going to be much more different from now on. "I need you, too. I couldn't exist without you now."

He felt like he'd just hit a home run and everyone was cheering him on, but this home run was one of his better ones. "You have no idea how good it feels to tell you that, to hear you say it back." They kissed again, both too pleased with their revelations to keep quiet. "I couldn't hide it from you anymore. It wasn't fair to either of us."

"I thought you didn't play fair," she whispered before kissing him with more fervor than ever before.


	12. Chapter 12: Somniatis

Hey there, readers! I am posting this from my phone, and let me tell you, it is not fun! I've edited this to the best of my ability, and if there are any errors that I can find, I'll edit this as soon as I'm able to get back to my laptop in a few hours. I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter, and as always, the reviews are greatly appreciated.

Enough of me jabbering. Here it is! Happy reading.

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco **/ Chapter 12: Somniatis

The sunlight came through the little window, waking her up first. She knew she should get up and get some work done, but she was too busy looking at him.

Clothes had been thrown all over the small room, but his shirt was close enough for her to reach. She took hold of it and brought it to nose, inhaling his scent, and quickly put the shirt down and laid down, turning her face back into her pillow.

"What in the hell were you doing with my shirt?," she heard, flipping back over.

"Dammit, Cooper!" she laughed, as Cooper was suddenly wide awake, hovering over her. "You saw that! How?"

"I'm not gonna reveal all my tricks," he explained before he kissed her. "You just trying to breathe it all in, Amelia? By all means, stop and smell the roses."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her. _Was this really happening? Was last night real?_ He let his hands snake up her stomach, and Amelia's breath hitched.

"So it's the ribs, huh?"

"Yes," she breathed as he continued.

* * *

"Well, this one is from when I fell off my bunk bed when I was 10." Amelia and Cooper were swapping scar stories, still in bed.

"What does an only child need with a bunk bed?" he questioned. She was off in thought, thinking about how much she missed her childhood bedroom.

"It only had one bed - there was a desk underneath, so I guess it was really a lofted bed, but I loved that thing." He smiled, thinking of a younger version of Amelia sitting at a desk, probably reading something. "That was before Dad moved us underground, and I had to leave it behind."

Although it had undoubtedly been safer, Cooper couldn't imagine living under the surface for as long as she had. That had to be worse than that metal cylinder next to Saturn.

Amelia had a smile on her face, looking genuinely happy, something that he was glad to see. The light from the new sun illuminated the room, and she couldn't have looked more heavenly.

"I don't think you have any idea how absolutely gorgeous you look right now," he confessed. She blushed, but kept her eyes on him. "I'm serious."

"Not too bad yourself, Coop," she whispered, still gazing at him. "So this is how it is now, huh?" He grinned, moving a hand over his face in an attempt to suppress his smile.

"Um," he paused, "you want the calm answer, or what I'm actually thinking?" She bit her lip, considering which answer she wanted.

"The 'what you're actually thinking' one." He moved closer to her.

"I hope this is how it is now. Good Lord." She laughed, rolling onto her back. "You think that's funny? Cause I sure as hell don't!"

"I'm not making fun of you, just admiring your enthusiasm." He smiled again at that, still trying to wrap his mind around what had actually just taken place within the last 12 hours.

"Glad you find me enthusiastic," he drew out, watching her smile next. The all-out desire that they had finally succumbed to in the early hours of the morning was racing through his brain - every minor detail.

* * *

"Tell mom and dad I'll try and come by next week," Moses said, "I'm sorry."

"Mose, they miss you, Jack misses you, and I miss you. You gotta remember who we're talking about here." Moses chuckled to herself.

"We do have the most involved, over-protective parents in the world - in the galaxy." Moses heard her sister take a deep breath. "Law, I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you."

"Love you, too." She tapped the earpiece to end the conversation, taking it off as soon as she landed in her apartment.

"Ren just sent you a message, Moses." Her small robot rolled in, delivering the news.

"Thanks, RAID," she said, "but chances are slim that I'll reply. He really pissed me off today." RAID came closer.

"I think he likes you," RAID exclaimed, stopping her roll. "You all have known each other your whole lives."

"That's the problem," Moses replied, hanging up her jacket in the coat closet.

"If you would get a wrist screen, you could deny his messages yourself." Moses laughed, flopping down onto her couch.

"Why would I do that when I've got you? And do you really think that I'd ever get rid of this old thing?" she exclaimed as she tapped her wrist.

* * *

"Where are we placing the rest of these probes?" she questioned him as they walked into the woods. It was still early, and from what they could tell, the beasts only began to appear at dusk.

"In the trees. I remember my dad talking about placing cameras in the trees of the woods he used to hunt, and I figured this was similar." He seemed to be enjoying this exploration. It was a nice day, much better than the last, not that the rain hadn't been welcomed. "You wanna hand me one of those?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," she replied, handing him a probe. He began to climb the tree in front of her. "Cooper! Be careful, please."

"Amelia, I will be fine." He was touched by her concern, but continued climbing. "Just gotta place this little guy somewhere." She could tell that he was in his element, for sure. While he might have not exactly enjoyed farming, she could just tell from when she found him and TARS on the mountain that he was into this sort of thing.

"I got it!" he exclaimed as he attached the probe. "Before you get to worryin' again, I'll be careful on the way down." She watched as he easily landed on the ground, nodding when he turned around.

"Okay, we have one more to place," she stated, holding the probe in front of her. Cooper plucked it from her hand, examining it himself.

"Where were you thinking?" She waited before responding.

"Not sure. We could just wait until we find a suitable enough location," she said as they began to walk out of the forest, back toward the units.

"We could build a platform for it to fly on," Cooper suggested, "develop a remote control, maybe program it for auto-pilot." Amelia threw her hands together in one firm clap.

"Yes!" she yelled. "What a perfect idea! We might be able to find bodies of water this way."

"I don't know why we didn't think of it before." How had they not? _You were too busy focusing on your feelings to think about the exploration of this planet. Don't vocalize that._

"Thank God you know how to do stuff like this, because I'm clueless," she stated flatly. He laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"Good thing you weren't the pilot, then, huh?" She chuckled in response. If this was indeed how it was now, it would be perfectly fine with him. "What's with those pants?" He tilted his head down to her legs.

"What about them?" she asked, now looking up at him. He smirked, which confused her further.

"They're pretty damn tight." She rolled her eyes.

"That's because they're leggings, Cooper," she explained, the unit now in sight. He still had that smirk on his face. "What?"

"Those things uncomfortable?" She shook her head 'no'.

"They're actually amazingly comfortable," she replied, suddenly realizing what might be on his mind.

"Good, cause you look real good in 'em." He said it just the same as someone might say that the sky was blue. "And trust me, I've noticed when you've worn them before. Just didn't say anything."

"So you've been staring at my ass for about three months now?" He chuckled, his hand sliding down her back, stopping just low enough to grab a handful. "Cooper!" she yelled in shock, and put emphasis on each syllable, beaming at him. "Warn a girl first!" He smiled back, biting half of his bottom lip.

"But that takes all the fun out of it," he explained, guiding his hand back up to her left shoulder. "What's next?"

* * *

"Do you remember watching TV when we were younger, you know, before it went away?" Cooper heard while he was staring at his tablet writing.

"Yeah, I think it went out when I was 13 so you were how old, 7?" Amelia chuckled lightly, flipping through pages of data from the prints Cooper had found.

"Correct." Looking at TARS and CASE's screens that were alarmingly like those old televisions from years gone by made her think of the disturbing messages that CASE no doubt still had stored in there somewhere. She went back to the pages, trying to ignore it. _Dr. Brand, I regret to inform you that your father passed away today. He had no pain. _

Cooper noticed she didn't say much else, so focused on the research in her hands. "This isn't finals time, you know." She looked up, confused. "You're reading like you're cramming because the test is in an hour."

"This is important, Cooper. No, I'm not being quizzed on it, but-" she said as he cut her off.

"If you pass me the sheets you've read I can ask you questions, if that would made this less boring for you." She couldn't tell if he was completely serious or not.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." She continued reading, fully content with the idea of pretending she was just fine as she tried to keep her mind off of her long-gone father.

"What have you found out so far, Brand?" She looked back up and neatly put the stack on her desk.

"Well, between that video footage that we have and the size of the prints, I'm guessing that the average size of one is much larger than the one we caught, maybe even larger than the ones we saw last night, leading me to think that the one we dissected was very much an adolescent. Once we get enough footage from the probes that we put out this afternoon, we should have a better idea of their habits." He nodded and laid his tablet down, sticking the stylus behind his ear.

"You less scared of 'em now?" He questioned, concerned.

"Not exactly, just more informed," she replied as she watched him relax in his chair. "And hopefully we'll get some footage of those little bear-like creatures."

"You might have discovered the next house cat, Amelia." She knew he was joking, but maybe there was some truth to that.

"We're not taking one on to raise, I can guarantee you that." She saw him smile, biting his lower lip.

"Yeah, TARS is enough trouble as it is," Cooper joked, looking over at the robot.

"I'm only as difficult as you program me to be, Cooper. Your call." Amelia sheepishly smiled as Cooper watched her.

"You like it when he makes fun of me, don't you?" Cooper asked, now with a huge grin on his face.

"Only a little." This was one of the many ways he was able to lure her in, she had noticed. His self-induced humiliation always made her laugh, and he would always jokingly accused her of something else. That's just how he was, and she didn't mind; it was nice to be around someone who wasn't always serious all the time. Amelia yawned as she rubbed her eyes. She hadn't realized how late it was, and she remembered that she hadn't really slept too long the night before, causing her to blush.

"What are you grinnin' about, Amelia?" Cooper was now standing up, walking toward her desk. She didn't even know she had been smiling!

"Nothing." She knew he wouldn't buy that for a minute.

"You don't smile for no reason. I know you." He was behind her, his hands kneading her shoulders. She sighed and tilted her head backward, looking at him.

"It shouldn't take too much imagination to know what I was thinking about, Cooper." He was shocked at how bluntly she had said that, no underlying tone that diluted the meaning of the words.

"I have a pretty good idea what's on your mind." She got up from the chair, turning around.

"Well, then," Amelia said as she walked toward her room, not shutting the door back.

"I like this!" Cooper exclaimed as he practically ran in behind her.

* * *

Amelia had gone out like a light, which was extremely unusual for her unless she was completely exhausted, which Cooper figured she was; there had been a lot of walking amongst other activities during the past 24 hours. His mind was still racing, unable to rest. _When would the others get here? Would they ever get here? If they did get here, were they going to try and make it look as much like Earth as possible, like they had done to Cooper Station? What would they do once the others were here? _

He was drawn out of his thoughts by Amelia, who shifted, still asleep. She hadn't been too restless, which was good. _Maybe I should try and sleep myself. _

* * *

"Moses, your mother is a senator, we should use it to our advantage. Maybe you could convince her to get everyone else on the board to go through with this." Moses shook her head.

"Mister Greer, she won't agree to it, I can guarantee you." She would never agree to trying to get this passed.

"Your mother knows the importance of the expansion of NASA. Please, Moses, just try."

"Okay, Greer. No promises, though," Moses said as she walked toward his door. "She's not going to agree with sending anyone into a black hole, trust me."

* * *

It was a beautiful downtown scene, trees lining the street. Children laughing, couples holding hands, it was like the America his father had told him about, not like the dead one he remembered.

"Cooper! Cooper!" he heard from behind him. He turned around. _ Amelia._ "Where have you been?"

"Here, I guess," Cooper laughed. Amelia looked different: her hair was a little longer, and she didn't look as thin, but not in a bad way. it was as if her life wasn't as stressful and she took time out to take care of herself.

"You guess? I've been looking everywhere for you." The concern in her voice was genuine, her eyes conveying her emotions. "I was worried."

He grabbed her hand, tons of people walking past. "I like that you worry about me, but it's unnecessary. I'm fine." Amelia smiled gently, squeezing his hand, as if to make sure he was really there.

"You know how I am," she reminded him before she placed a kiss on his cheek. "But you love me."

"That I do." He let go of her hand and they began to walk. He put his arm around her as they made their way through the crowd. "Where're we headed to, Amelia?"

"No where, really. I just worried about you, I missed you." That made him smile.

"You did?" She nodded. "Just indulge me here, but how long have we been apart?" Cooper looked around at the store windows that they passed.

"Only a few hours. I was reading, and all of a sudden, you were gone. I was worried. I checked the fields, the observatory, which was stupid on my part considering it's daylight, and I tried to buzz you but you didn't answer," Amelia explained, looking at her feet as they walked. He gently hugged her with the arm he had around her shoulders.

"I'll try not to keep you so worried from now on." She didn't reply, likely brushing off that statement. "Do you want to go do something fun?" Amelia looked up at him, wonderment in her eyes.

* * *

"Cooper, I can't find you! This is getting annoying!" Amelia yelled, walking through the corn fields. He heard her laugh, but knew she was probably getting aggravated. He could see her through a few of the stalks. _Okay, buddy. In 3, 2, 1, go!_ He jumped through the stalks, tackling her to the ground.

"I found you," he whispered before he kissed her, the hot sun on his back. "I've got you now." She pushed him over, straddling him. "Brand, Brand, Brand. What do you think you're doing?" She grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Don't pretend that you're not interested." He chuckled and pulled her face down to his.

"You know I am," Cooper replied before he kissed her. "I'm very interested."

"I love you, you know that, right?" He pushed her hair behind her ears, watching her.

Cooper felt something tugging at his arms.

_"Cooper! Wake up!"_

* * *

"Cooper! Wake up!" Amelia was doing everything she could to wake him up. "Come on!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Cooper said, shooting straight up in the bed. "What's wrong?" Amelia sat up next to him.

"You were talking in your sleep. 'I found you! 'I've got you now!' You sounded scared." _Anything but_, he thought. _And why were there fields? I don't really enjoy farming. Nostalgia, maybe?_

"Oh, well," Cooper paused, laying back down, "I'm fine. No bad dreams, not that I can remember." Amelia weakly smiled, watching him.

"Good. I was worried that you were," Amelia couldn't find the words. "You sounded lost." _She probably thinks that I was dreaming about trying to find Murph._

"I'm good. I'm good." She didn't push further, and closed her eyes. "Night, Amelia."

"Goodnight, Cooper. Sweet dreams." He watched her fall back asleep, quickly following her lead.


	13. Chapter 13: Ante Porticum

Hello again! Here is Chapter 13! I cannot believe that I'm already here, but don't worry - there is still a lot to come. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, I appreciate it! Also, **cloaked-and-coastin** and **Chasing Liquor,** I want to thank you both for this little encouragement circle that we have apparently created. It's really great! :)

On with the words!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 13: Ante Porticum

"How's the footage lookin', Amelia?" Cooper asked as he walked into the common area. CASE stood in front of Amelia's desk.

"The footage is promising. Around 5 to 7 per pack, and 1 or 2 males per pack. Either more females than males are born or the males mostly bed down waiting on prey. Those bear-like creatures seem to be really good at climbing trees, which makes sense if they are a source of food for the beasts." Amelia was writing as she spoke, taking careful notes. "I'm waiting on bugs and birds. There have to be bugs and birds if there's vegetation, or at least creatures like them."

She looked cute all the time, but there was something about seeing her so focused that was particularly appealing.

"When the others get here, what do you want to do?" She put her clipboard and pencil down. "You know, not work related?"

"Cooper, it's," she stopped and smiled to herself. _Just be positive for once in your life, he needs it_, she thought to herself. "I want to get out of this unit. I want a real house. Nothing big, just something that doesn't look so space-y, if that's manageable, or even still a thing." He nodded, gently smiling at the idea. He wondered if there was room for him at this house she was talking about building. "What about you?"

"Corn fields." She seemed surprised. "While I didn't enjoy farming, I miss seeing them. I didn't appreciate them then, wish I had, though." Amelia watched him with sadness and admiration in her eyes. "Robots'll plant, care to and harvest the crop, NASA can have most of the product to turn into fuel, and then I'll keep a share to start up my own distillery. One of the first things man has always developed when colonizing new land is alcohol." Amelia laughed out loud, slapping her hands together.

"What are you going to call this whiskey, Cooper?" He kicked his feet up on his desk, leaning back in his chair.

"The board hasn't come to a decision yet, Dr. Brand, but I'll notify you when we've come to a decision." She was still giggling from the last comment, and this one made her giggle more.

"Thank you for keeping me in the loop, Cooper. I appreciate it." He chuckled, her response was quick as usual.

"You'll be the first to know, don't worry." She had gone back to taking notes, once again consumed by the data. "So just what do you want this house to look like?"

"Does it really matter?" she questioned him. "I'd just be happy to not be surrounded by metal, I'd like something traditional, spectacular, but not flashy." That sounded like her in a nutshell - the black boatneck shirt she had on when they'd met coming to mind: traditional, not flashy, and she had looked spectacular. "What was your house like back on Earth?"

He sighed, looking away, thinking about everyone who had ever lived in that house - his mother and father before they both died, leaving the house to him, Jill, Tom and Murph, Donald moved in once Jill was gone to help with the kids. The house had seen a lot of pain, but a lot of love, too. "My dad had that house built right after him and my mom got married. I didn't know a day without it. Was a good-sized house, but by the time I left, it didn't look as nice as I remembered it looking as a child. I've told you about the fixed-up version they had on the station. That's what it looked like when I was a kid, before the dust. I wish I had pictures."

She wished there were pictures, too. She could only imagine it looking peaceful, if that was possible, even with the dust. A farmhouse away from everything sounded great to her. Living at NASA headquarters for years hadn't exactly granted her any privacy.

"It was all white outside, had a big front porch. Again, it was perfect before the dust, before the blight." Cooper seemed to be in deep thought, and she decided not to push it any further. These questions, while innocent, were probably digging up a lot of memories for him, and she knew how terrible that felt.

"It sounds so peaceful." She was right, it had been peaceful once upon a time.

"It was." Amelia started taking notes again and Cooper decided that now was a better time than ever to write. He picked up his tablet and stylus, trying to come up with how to word this situation.

_The planet, while different, isn't without it's wonders. We've experienced rain, something we didn't know happened on this stretch of the planet, and we are in the midst of researching a species that looks very similar to some on Earth that existed before the blight and regulations. This trek into the unknown is far from over; the emotional journey that this experience has brought us on is potentially as significant as the physical journey, at least to us, the only two humans here at the moment. We wait patiently on troops from the stations to get here. _

_Through this experience, Dr. Brand and myself have learned that compromise is the way to win the war. Before we landed in dire straights with the near destruction of the Endurance, our ability to see eye-to-eye was almost non-existent, but that too has changed. We've both accepted different roles here on the as of now unnamed planet, but not so different that we exist separately here. If we want this to work, if we want to make this place livable, we have to work together, and that's not so difficult. Dr. Brand analyzes and records, while I care to the more 'dirty' tasks. I do have to give credit where credit is due - the girl can gut an animal like a pro. You would never know that she wasn't a hunter, or neither of us had seen an animal in roughly 25 years (years according to us, that is.) _

_Compromising doesn't mean that either of us have conceded, it means that we're willing to do whatever it takes to make this new planet our home, everyone's home. We haven't given in to our negative thoughts._

* * *

Cooper worked on programming and installing an invisible fence to put around the camp. With this, he actually might be able to go outside in the dark again, something that he hadn't done since that night he kissed her for the first time. He wanted to spend more time outside looking at the stars. He wasn't an astronomer, but if he could label just a few of the stars, at least he could look up into the sky and refer to a star by name.

He also knew that this was going to make Amelia feel more safe, and he had promised to make sure she always felt that way, that she was safe. She acted tough, but he knew that under the skin, he was dealing with a damaged person much like himself. How could they not be damaged after all they'd seen? That shared experience was the basis of their bond, but it wasn't the thread that held it together.

"TARS, you think she'll appreciate this?" Cooper asked the robot.

"You're really putting in some effort here, aren't you?" Coop chuckled, patting TARS on his side, just as he would tap someone's arm.

_That dream was too real_, he thought to himself. He was going to make sure that was a reality, every last bit of it.

* * *

"Good morning, Mose," Ren said as she walked into their shared lab space. "I tried to reach you last night." She whipped her voluminous dark brown curls into her hand, putting her hair in a messy bun.

"I know." As Moses put her bag down, he walked toward her.

"And you didn't respond because..." She smirked, trying to convey her seriousness.

"Because you're an asshole, that's why." Ren cackled, sitting on Moses' desk.

"Now don't go actin' like you're some saint, Moses. God knows you aren't." She agreed, but had no shame in that.

"I know I'm not a saint, I've never attempted to be," she said as she slid her brown canvas jacket off and placed it on her chair.

"Then why won't you let me take you on one date - one, Mose - why?" She smiled to herself, crossing her arms.

"Ren, we've known each other our entire lives, our parents are best friends, we've been very close, right? If that's the case, why do you say such terribly rude things to me? They don't impress me, and the line you've used since I was four about my 'big hair' isn't a good flirting tactic." Moses sat down in her rolling chair, watching him. He was super attractive, and that was most of his problem. These lines had obviously worked for him with most girls, but they wouldn't work on her. She just wanted to be spoken to like anyone else, not thrown ill-contrived compliments that were developed to be panty-droppers. Her dad had always told her to stay away from guys like that.

"You need to learn how to take a compliment," Ren stated as he got up, walking back over to his desk.

"Talking about how huge my hair is isn't a compliment. I was born with this hair and besides drenching it in chemicals, there is really nothing I can or care to do about it." Ren sat down, tapping the clear glass screen on his desk, waking it up. He touched items on the screen, sorting them.

"I never said I didn't like your hair; it's very 'you'." Moses didn't respond, and instead began to work at her screen as well.

_Awkward_, she thought.

* * *

Amelia stood in the shower, letting the water hit her. She couldn't help but kind of obsess over the house she'd already built in her head. Even if she never actually got to live in it, at least she had the image in her mind. She remembered the way her mom had decorated their home before she died, before her and her father had moved. Everything in the house was of natural colors, but it wasn't relaxed looking by any means. Nothing about her mother was relaxed, and because of that, not much of Amelia was, either. She learned how to stress herself out in order to accomplish things at an early age.

This house would have those same colors, but it was going to be relaxed and look lived in. Of course it would look lived in if Cooper had anything to do with it; she couldn't see him putting up with perfection like that. Would he even want to be there with her? _Maybe_, she thought. Even if this place ever became densely populated, she couldn't imagine her life without Cooper.

She finished up with her shower and quickly dried off, keeping the towel around her as she walked out into the hallway and back to her room. If Cooper was going to share this new house with her, she decided they would need a bigger bed for sure. She smiled to herself as she threw the towel on the now-closed doorknob, and hurried to throw on clothes.

_Would he want to be there with me? Probably. _

* * *

"TARS, test the fence, please," Cooper asked, waiting to see if the thing actually worked.

"Cooper, we've been together a long time now, you should know that you don't need to say 'please'."

"Just a habit, I guess, slick. Test 'er out." TARS did as told, emitting a short ringing noise as an indicator.

"Shield works, Coop. Try throwing a pebble over the line." He picked up a rock and threw it at the invisible wall. The rock obviously hit something, a 'ping' sound wrapping around him like a dome.

"Good work, TARS." Cooper walked back toward the unit, in need of a drink. "Can't wait for that whiskey," he whispered to himself. He held up his hand to the scanner, and the door quickly opened. "Amelia? Where you at?"

"Here!" she called from her room. "I just got out of the shower." Amelia could hear him laugh.

"You should've let me know," he said suggestively as he opened the door to her room. She stared at him with a smile.

"What's going on?" She was the worst flirt ever, and not surprisingly, he was the best.

"I've got a surprise for you outside. You're gonna like this."

* * *

"Okay, now throw this rock as hard as you can." He handed her the small rock and she pulled back to throw. "Don't put an eye out, Amelia."

"Where did you say you kept those guns at?" She laughed at her own joke.

"Very funny," he replied, sarcastically. "Actually, that was funny, but just throw the rock." She threw it with all the force she could, almost immediately seeing the effect.

"A shield? You put up a fence?!" He nodded, kicking a larger rock at his feet.

"TARS and I put it together while you and CASE worked on notes. It was unbelievably easy to assemble." Amelia was impressed.

"You never stop surprising me, Cooper." He watched as she threw another rock at the wall. "I just wanted to double check." He pulled her into a hug, swinging her around.

"We can come out here at night now, you know," Cooper explained as he stopped spinning. "Those bastards could be standing right on the other side of that fence and they couldn't get us." He put Amelia back on the ground, but she still held onto him.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate this. Just for my sanity, even - just to know that they can't get too close." He nodded, looking back down at her.

"I thought you'd like it."

* * *

"You want anything to drink, Ellie?" She nodded and Moses quickly walked over to her alcohol selection. "What'll you have?"

"Whiskey neat," Ellie replied. Moses poured around 3 shots worth into a highball glass and handed it to her friend.

"Your brother has really been laying the moves on me thick," Moses said, taking a sip of her own beer. "Real thick."

"Mose, I'm sorry, but you know how he is. He did just break up with that one girl, maybe he wants to use you as rebound, not that that's all you're good for, because you're amazing, he's just got some issues."

"You think?" Moses laid down on her couch. "He's such a pretty boy that he can get a hold of about anything."

* * *

They laid outside for around an hour, talking and pointing at stars. "Aren't you glad they didn't come out the last time we did this?" Amelia asked him as she folded up the blanket.

"Absolutely." Cooper picked up his notepad and pencil, wishing he could stuff them in his long lost brown jacket. Amelia reached for his free hand, holding it in her own as they both walked toward the unit.

"We should do this more often. It was relaxing." He agreed with that 100%. It was nice being able to be outside in the dark without fear of a beast attack.

"We can do this whenever you want," he replied as Amelia held her hand up to the scanner. They walked in, both turning around to make sure the door shut all the way.

"I'm going to change into sleep clothes," Amelia said as she let go of his hand, walking toward her room. He walked over to his room with the same plan in mind. "You want to come over here or should I walk across the hall?"

_Of course I'm going to go over to her,_ he thought. "I'll be over." Cooper quickly changed clothes.

He heard her leave her room and walk toward the bathroom, the sink turning on. "Want me to ask a bunch of questions while you brush your teeth? I know that's fun." Cooper, now in his sleep clothes as well, walked down the hall to brush his own teeth.

Amelia spit into the sink. "I just love it when you do that," she finally replied, sarcasm heavily laced in her tone. Cooper shook his head with a small smile as Amelia continued to brush.

"Make some room there, Colgate," he requested as he squirted the toothpaste onto his brush, running it under the water. Just as he started, Amelia was through.

"I'm going to go on to bed, head in when you're done." He nodded before she turned around and left the room. _Did he really just call me Colgate?_ Amelia walked into her room and turned the bed down, quickly getting comfortable.

Today had been a good day, and a productive one, too, but she couldn't take her mind off of the imaginary house she was building in her head. She decided that she wanted a big front porch like Cooper had back on Earth.

"So you like the fence?" she heard, causing her to turn in her place.

"Of course I do. I can't thank you enough." She rolled back onto her stomach as Cooper got in beside her.

"Anything for you," he said sincerely as she draped an arm over him. "You gonna fall asleep or is your mind just gonna keep racing like usual?"

She thought about that for a moment before replying. "I just can't stop thinking about that house."

Cooper was happy to hear it.


	14. Chapter 14: Lacrimas

Hey there, readers! Here's chapter 14. Can you believe it? FOURTEEN! Please review, I real appreciate all of the feedback! Happy reading!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 14: Lacrimas 

"Good shot, there, Brand! You actually did it!" Amelia was proud of herself - this had taken a long time to even somewhat master. "Just don't go shooting me now, okay?" She laughed in response.

"I'll consider it," she joked, using her hand as a shield from their sun. Cooper was proud that he had actually been able to show her how to do something and not the other way around.

Amelia was positive she was feeling something more between them than happiness. Had saying they were happy been a cowardly way of saying that they loved each other. She would always love him for the sacrifice that he made for her, but this was different. She could feel herself smiling when she saw him smile, and she knew that something like that just wasn't natural for her.

"You'll consider it? I think you'd miss me," he continued, "You'd miss me way too much to even attempt it." She rolled her eyes.

"You sure about that?" Cooper winked in her direction.

* * *

RAID rolled into Moses' bedroom with a glass of water. "Moses, your father sent you a message."

"Thanks, RAID," she replied, taking the glass. "Wonder what he wants?" Moses picked up her glasstab again, leaving the book.

_Hey Mose, hope you're doing okay. Hadn't heard from you in a while. Law says you've been busy, but that doesn't make us miss you any less. You might want to try and swing by sometime soon. Jack's got a few ballgames coming up that you could come to - he's the star of the team even at 14! But anyway, we miss you. Your mom's got a lot going on that you might be interested in, if that'll make you stop by._

_We love you. - Dad_

Moses frowned, putting the glasstab down. She could make the drive, but then she'd blab about the project, which she wasn't going to do. She would lie about asking her mother for permission to send someone into a black hole. She knew that the chances of her saying to do it were slim to none.

She picked up the tab again, beginning to dictate:

_Dad, I miss you guys, too. I've been super busy. NASA keeps me working! We've got some cool stuff going on, too. Law told me about Jack, and I'd love to stop by for a game. I do love you, you know that, right? I'm sorry for being so absent. _

_-Mose_

* * *

"I've been wanting to watch the messages, Cooper. I think it would be nice to see their faces again," Amelia said as they walked back into the unit. Cooper didn't know what to think about that. In ways, it sounded great, but in others, he knew they'd both be distraught for weeks... again.

"I don't know, Amelia. I don't know if that's a good idea." She seemed to somewhat agree, her sad eyes looking at him. "Maybe we should think about it for a while first." Amelia nodded. "When I said that the past was going to be there for us to look at, I didn't mean that we'd be pulling it up all the time."

"I know," she mouthed as she put a hand on his arm. "I just," she paused, "it's not that you're not enough, because trust me, I'm glad you're here, I'm ecstatics about it, but-"

"I miss them, too, Amelia. It's okay to miss them. Just because someone's gone doesn't mean they aren't there, you know that. You're the one who taught me about it." They walked into the lab, putting the guns and bows up. "Maybe we could start working on Plan B. It won't make the pain go away, but you'd be surprised how much you forget about when you hold a baby."

"Explain that, please." They were back to the common area, and Amelia grabbed two water bags. "I really don't have much experience with children, I'm sure you've figured that out by now, though."

"When Jill died, Murph was only one year old. Tom was six and amazingly independent, just like his mom." Cooper smiled, thinking about Tom's stubborn streak. "But Murph needed someone most all of the time, obviously, still a baby. I grieved like anyone else would, but she was a distraction from the pain. There was someone who depended on me for everything, and that makes you feel less alone. And Donald was there, but Donald and Tom were more of a team after Jill died. Murph forced me to focus on her." Amelia tore the tops off of both bags, sticking straws in.

"I get that." She handed Cooper a bag and was silent for a bit, mulling the idea over. "You know, the plan to incubate 10 at once was with the idea that Rom and Doyle were going to be helping us, so I don't think 10 right off the bat is smart. Maybe one or two?" Amelia sat down in a chair next to Cooper. He didn't know if he was actually up to doing this all over again, but he knew that it was necessary, even with the stations.

"It's so much responsibility, and we've been pretty busy lately. Let's think about it for a while, maybe a month? You don't want to jump into something like that, do you? I was just suggesting." She turned her head, squinting at him. "Now, hold on, you know what I mean. Yes, I know it's for the sake of science, but we have to think about ourselves here, too, Amelia. We know that they're still out there, alive, so do we really want to do this right now?" She slouched down into the chair, looking straight ahead.

"And I'm not the most affectionate person, and children need affection. You're affectionate, though." Cooper watched her blank face - it was almost as if she was emotionally drained. "I only saw you in action with Murph once, Cooper, but your concern was genuine. I bet you were an amazing dad." She put down the bag and started to cry, leaning forward into her hands. "I'm sorry I took you away from them, Cooper. I'm so sorry. My dad... my dad," she was sobbing, "my dad lied to us. He took you away from your children, knowing damn good and well you probably would never see them again." Cooper got up from his seat, and kneeled next to her.

"Amelia, we can't do this to ourselves. We can't," he whispered as he embraced her. "It all happened because it was supposed to happen, remember? We know that." She hugged him tight, still crying.

"I had nothing to lose, Cooper, except my dad, but that has to be different than losing your children, and I knew that Wolf was most likely dead. I still had a feeling, but my instincts were right. I wasn't giving up anything on Earth really, but you? You gave up everything!" She was heaving again, and Cooper wasn't sure what to do. Maybe he should just let her get it out of her system. "I wish I could have seen my dad again, but you seeing your kids again was more important, and I say that honestly."

"Shhhh," he pulled her from the chair into the floor next to him. Her entire face was red, her big, lush lips straining to keep themselves still until her body forced her to let out another sob. "You can't do this to yourself, Amelia. You can't beat yourself up over things that we had no control over." She sniffled a bit before finally taking one large breath. It was then that Cooper realized that this must have been how Murph and Tom felt: abandoned by their father, believing that he'd told them an elaborate lie. "We did the right thing. Remember when you finally got back on the ship on Miller's planet?"

"I was trying to do the right thing," she recounted, relaxing in his arms. "What would I do without you?" Her expression was raw and real. She pressed her warm cheek to his. "What would I do without you?"

Cooper didn't know what to say. He could't make it without her at this point either. They weren't alone, they were just by themselves, if that made sense, and he knew that one day the stations would come through or they'd start up Plan B.

"You wouldn't have anyone to fake-threaten with a gun, I know that." He smiled when he heard her laugh. She pulled back, looking at him.

"I wouldn't have anyone talking me through this right now, either," she said softly, moving her fingers gently over his hairline, which she knew he loved. "You are an amazing human, Joseph Cooper. Absolutely amazing." He chuckled back as she leaned back into him.

"I don't know about amazing, pretty close to it, though." Amelia chuckled again, staying where she was. "You're not too bad, either."

"You're just saying that," she replied pulling back. Her face was still blotchy-red, but Cooper could tell that she was recovering.

"I am not. You're pretty damn spectacular. I don't know a thing about most of the stuff you talk about. Goes right over my head." She smiled back.

"Well, thank you, but as you said, good thing I wasn't the pilot."

* * *

"You wouldn't be nearly as terrible of a mom as you think you would be," Cooper muttered as he ran his fingers up and down Amelia's naked back. "You're selfless, I mean, you wouldn't be here if you weren't." She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"You suggesting something, Cooper?" He laughed as he put a hand in her hair. "You have to admit, that's a weird thing to say after what we just finished doing." Amelia rose up, her face hovering over his.

"I'm suggesting nothing. I'm just trying to reassure you for when the time comes." Amelia smirked as she put her head on her own pillow. "We're gonna be all they've got."

"Our distractions." Cooper looked up at the ceiling, remembering holding Tom and Murph in his arms just after their births. "I'm not ready yet, though. I've been thinking about it for hours, and I've decided that after that little spell I had, I'm not ready."

"We'll take all the time we need." Cooper thought back to that dream with the perfect downtown and the cornfields. "We can wait."

Amelia could tell that Cooper's thoughts were somewhere else. "What are you thinking about?"

_Should I tell her? Maybe a shortened version of it?_ "I had this dream a few nights ago that other people had finally got here, or at least I think they were here. There was a really nice downtown, it looked like the America that the generations before us talked about, like we read in history books. You were there." Amelia giggled, causing Cooper to look at her. "What?"

"I was in your early 21st century America dream," she said, smiling. "I just find it interesting."

"Sure you do," Cooper exclaimed, moving slightly closer to her. "Anyway, you'd been looking for me, and I'd apparently been gone for just a little while. You told me that you'd been reading and hadn't noticed that I'd left, and come to think of it, I'm hurt that your book or whatever it was was more important than me." She knew he was kidding.

"Oh, yeah. Big time. I value all written word over you. Totally," Amelia said sarcastically.

"Well now, that's not nice," he whispered as he closed the gap between them. She grinned, their eyes locking.

"It's not, but it's the truth." Cooper smirked, letting a hand glide over her stomach.

"You're playin' with fire now, Brand," Cooper explained as a blush rose to Amelia's cheeks. "I wouldn't say much more if I was you. You might get in trouble."

She bit her bottom lip before she opened her mouth to speak again. "Really?" she asked playfully as Cooper looked on.

"Really." Amelia came up with something to say.

"But I've got so much reading to do." Amelia and Cooper smiled at each other.

"Nuh-uh-uh," he said slowly, his eyes twinkling. "Show some respect, Dr. Brand." He captured both of her hands above her head. "You've got one more chance."

Amelia smirked back at Cooper, wiggling her nose, something that he'd never seen her do. "Just one?"

"Just one." Every second felt like a minute as he waited on her reply.

"Well then, if that's the case, I better go do some research." Cooper laughed, still binding her wrists with one hand while pulling her to him with the other.

"I'll give you something to research," he exclaimed. "You're gonna have to work your way out of this one."

"I just hate getting into trouble with you," Amelia said just before she kissed him.

* * *

"Hot fuckin' damn!" Moses screamed as she threw her stylus to the ground.

"What's wrong?" she heard behind her. It was Ren.

"Ren, we are never going to get this down. It can't happen." Ren put his hands on her shoulders, and she looked at their reflection in the touchboard. Ren was hellishly attractive, but she couldn't get over his hellishly disgusting come ons.

"Don't think that way, Mosie," he replied, reassuring her. "We'll do it." Moses smiled.

"Since when did you start calling me 'Mosie'? Only my mom calls me that." Ren let go of Moses' shoulders and walked back far enough to look at the whole board.

"I saw your mom and dad last night at the fundraiser for the A.I. program, you should have come." Moses nodded, walking back over to her own desk, sitting down.

"Please tell me that you didn't tell her about this." Moses pointed to the touchboard.

Ren was facing her desk now. "Of course not, that's your job. She was asking about you, though. You really should make an effort."

"Ren, they are my parents, and they seriously are the best parents in the world, but don't you think they've gone through enough already without me revealing my life's work to them? I don't know how they do everything they do now, just imagine if they knew exactly what I was doing? They'd freak, and I can't be around them and not blab." Ren smiled softly before walking over to his own desk.

"You're just trying out to live out the life of your idol, your god." Moses watched as he sat down, taking off his lab jacket.

"I'm not trying to be Murphy, Ren. Yes, she's my idol, but I'm trying to do what's best for everyone involved."

"Wasn't that exactly what she was doing, too?" Moses nodded and slid her arms out of her own lab jacket. "I mean, it's obvious why you would have an attachment to her."

"I suppose, but she was more than I'll ever be, and that's how it should stay." Ren didn't reply, picking up his glasstab and stylus.

"Your dad was talking about Jack's basketball team. He's apparently amazing on the court." Moses chuckled, throwing her hair up into a lose bun.

"I bet he's exaggerating, he's just so proud that someone in the family's athletic," she replied, putting her reading glasses on.

"Moses, the kid is 6 feet tall and is 14 years old. It's not a stretch to think he'd be the best."

Moses smiled thinking about her little Jack. She might be 10 years older, but they had been close, nonetheless. "Again, dad's finally got an athlete. Laura's so consumed in her paintings that she can't focus on much else, and I'm the same, except with numbers for whatever it is that we're doing right now."

* * *

Cooper woke up the next morning suddenly unable to think about anything but the Plan B embryos. Would it bring back too many memories for him, and is this something that **they** had meant for him to do? Or were **they** waiting on the others?

Some part of him felt like he'd be cheating on Tom and Murph if he suddenly became a father again, even if they were gestated in incubators, and even though Tom and Murph were both long gone. Was it cheating, or was this exactly what Murph wanted him to do? Maybe it was another one of those second chances he felt like he kept receiving from the universe. He wasn't going to push this on Amelia, though. She wasn't ready for it, and she'd said so, but hopefully when she was ready for it he'd be ready too.

"You would," he whispered, referring to Murph. He smiled at the thought of Murph setting him up for this grand adventure, and maybe that's what she had actually done. He wasn't sure who or what was up there giving the orders, maybe the fifth dimension was a god, but he liked to think that Murph had a bigger role in his journey to Brand than what he'd originally thought.

He made a promise to her that he would return, and while it had been much later than he had hoped for or planned, he had kept that promise. Maybe all these second chances had been Murph's way of telling him to continue living. She knew that there was no life for him on the station, but that his life was out here with her: Amelia, and he didn't even know it until the words had come out of her mouth, and she couldn't have been more right.

_"My kids are here for me now. Go."_

_"Where?"_

_"It's so obvious. **Brand**." _

_She knew_. She'd known, but how, he wasn't sure. Cooper knew that life was a paradox, he'd seen it, and since that was true, maybe no one ever really died. Maybe they existed in that fifth dimension in order to guide their loved ones. _ I'm digging too far into this_, he thought as he walked outside, ready to find Amelia.

"Are you ready to go explore the other end? TARS is coming with us," Amelia yelled in his direction.

"You sure you don't wanna take CASE?" TARS turned around.

"What an insult, Coop. You better hope my signal still works." Cooper chuckled as he reached Amelia.

"I'm ready." He watched her smile as she tucked her bangs behind her ear. "What are you looking at?" Cooper grabbed her hand as they began to walk.

"You." She gave his hand a gently squeeze. "I'm glad I'm here."

"Me too."

* * *

After they had arrived back at the unit at sundown, Cooper took his tablet into his mostly now-unused room and sat down on the bed.

_This hasn't been easy. Even on Earth, we faced odds that no time before us ever had, but that's how time works, isn't it? It tests you, tries to break you down, but only succeeds when you give in to your battle. The human spirit is all about not giving in. Did the Founding Fathers give into the British rule? No. Did early astronomers give in when others called them crazy for believing that the earth was round? No. Did humanity give up on itself when we first saw the blight? Yes, and look where that got us. _

_Survival is about deciding to push on. It's not about who is the toughest, or the strongest, or the fastest, at least not in this case; it's about who decides that they're not going to lose. Those living on the stations, and Dr. Brand and myself, we decided that we weren't going to lose. Doyle, Romilly, and Edmunds decided that they weren't going to lose, either. Murphy is proof of that human spirit, as well._

_Whichever comes first, the stations reaching this planet or us kicking off Plan B, this is how it started - how it will start. We can't and don't want to forget where we've come from, but we've got a clean slate now. This is our beginning, our history._


	15. Chapter 15: Electi

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 15: Electi 

"Insects! Insects! We've got insects!" Amelia came running into the unit with a plastic box in her hands. Cooper got up from his desk, coming toward her.

"No way..." There they were: two little beetle-like bugs.

"Way. I can't wait to slice one open under the microscope." She walked toward the lab, Cooper trailing behind her. "We've got to be quick if we want to get a good idea of what they're composed of. I mean, obviously they've got to be similar to the bugs back home." He could tell that she was beyond excited, scurrying to get her gloves on.

"Need an assistant?" He handed her the camera to put on the microscope.

"Always," she replied as she sat down, ready to get the bugs out of the box. "Okay, now I'm going to spray them with this to kill them before we start examining. They can't run around while I'm trying to study them." Amelia held up a spray bottle and shot it down on the bugs. They quit moving almost instantly. "Now we can start." She picked up one bug with tweezers.

"You've got the camera on, right?" She nodded as she placed the bug on the glass.

"And we're ready." She sat down, zooming in on the bug. "Looks a lot like ones at home - to be expected."

Cooper stood behind her, watching her in action. "You gonna slice one open or what?"

"Just about to. If you would be so kind as to pass my a small scalpel." He quickly grabbed one, handing it to her. "Thank you."

He waited as she sliced the bug delicately. "What's it look like?"

"Typical. No different than at home, but good to know. We've got the other one to sample the DNA with." She got up from the microscope and walked over to the box. "We're going to run tests on this one to see if there are any different patterns in its DNA than what we're used to." She picked up the other bug and took it over toward her petri dishes. "We'll pick this one apart and run scans."

Cooper watched Amelia pick the bug apart, laying various parts of it on the petri dishes. "What are you going to do with those?"

"I'll place them in this machine... it'll extract the blood that human hands would be incapable of doing. It's almost impossible to hold something that small and extract something from it." She took the dishes and put each in the oven-like machine, placing them in what appeared to be designated spots. "Finished."

"That was quick," Cooper said as she snapped her gloves off. "Well, there's not much to them, I guess."

"Exactly. I can't wait to see how the DNA turns out. Won't have any information until the morning, though." Cooper opened the door for her as she appeared to be walking toward it. "Thank you."

"No problem." Amelia walked toward her desk, trying to tidy it up. "See what I'm doing?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned. He pointed toward his desk - it was spotless. "Oh, wow. I'm shocked. It's spotless."

"I've been trying. Not really in my nature to organize things by size, type, and name, but I'm trying." She gently smiled, shaking her head.

"You know it's not necessary." He walked toward his own desk, grabbing his tablet.

"I know that, but I like to impress you." She watched him walk back to his chair, trying to process his words.

"Wait!" Amelia stopped him before he sat down. "You don't think that going on the first trip, sacrificing your life for my own, then coming back here to be with me doesn't impress me? It certainly trumps a clean desk, don't you think?" She held his face in her hands, remembering when she'd held his helmet like that just minutes before he left her for Gargantua. "It sure impressed me."

Who knew that something so simple as a clean desk could lead them into this kind of conversation? Cooper had't expected it, and he certainly hadn't expected her to tear up.

"Now, don't go crying on me again, Amelia," he chuckled, wiping a tear away. "We're here together, it's not some dream, I'm not a ghost." _Not your ghost_.

"I know," she sniffled, trying to dry up. "That's what makes it all the more spectacular." She still held his face, as if she were examining him.

He put his left hand on her right hand, a move that while appeared light, meant more to Cooper than Amelia would ever know.

She smiled sadly, getting on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I can't help but cry every time I think about you falling into Gargantua. It wrecks me." She backed away from him, letting go.

Something inside of him told Cooper that as badly as he wanted to tell her about what went on in the black hole, Amelia wasn't emotionally able to handle it at the moment and might not be able to for a while.

"That's over now," he said as she walked back toward her desk. "I've been here for a few months now."

"But I'll never get over it," Amelia exclaimed, fiddling through her papers. "I'll never forget the way you sounded, the things you said as you shot down." She sat up straight, wiping her eyes again. "Ignore me."

Cooper chuckled. "I couldn't ignore you if I tried." Amelia laughed back, looking up at him.

* * *

"You've got the fence up?" Amelia asked as they walked outside. It was a beautifully clear night, like most.

"I do." Cooper waited on Amelia to spread out the big blanket. "Brought a gun anyway."

"You just like to pack around a gun," Amelia immediately replied. "You know I'm right."

Cooper smiled at her before joining her on the blanket. "Maybe."

"Maybe? Maybe my ass." She had her hands behind her head, looking up. Cooper didn't reply, too transfixed on her face.

"Your lips look swollen." She nodded in agreement. "You okay? Allergic reaction?" Cooper thought of one more thing that it could be and looked at her with wide eyes. "You don't think that you..."

Amelia knew what he was referring to. "The chances of me getting pregnant are, like, slim to none. Without in vitro, it's almost impossible for me." Amelia laughed at her own statement. "So, we have nothing to worry about there." Amelia guessed that it was the effects of one of a medication from Earth leaving her system. NASA gave them each about 12 shots before they left, each supposed to last for around 3 years; they gave her a special one to stop her cycle for three years and she was certain that this was her body's way of saying that the shot's effectiveness was gone.

"You gonna actually appreciate the sky or what?" Cooper asked as Amelia shifted closer to him.

"I'm trying to snuggle up to you, I could care less about the stars right now." Amelia's admission made Cooper smile.

"And here I was thinkin' you weren't the snuggling type." He felt her nod against him.

"Things change," Amelia replied, "and besides, it is a little nippy out, but not terrible by any means."

"Well then," he whispered as he put an arm around her.

"It's hard to believe how far away we are from home, yet how close we are at the same time." She was right - they were likely thousands of light years away, yet with the wormhole, about one.

"It's kind if fascinating, isn't it?" Like they had wondered so many times before, how many planets surrounded each star, and did any of those planets have life? That was something that _they_ probably knew, of course, Amelia still didn't know that_ they_ were future humans.

Cooper and Amelia stayed still for a few more minutes before Cooper realized that it was getting too cold for comfort.

"You wanna go inside?" Cooper asked. Amelia decided that maybe that was best.

"Honestly, I'm feeling a little off." Cooper got up first, helping her off the ground. "Sorry to be such a bore."

"You're not a bore, you're either sick or exhausted, and I'm going with the later here," he replied as they began to fold up the blanket. "The beasts haven't made a peep in a few days."

"I've noticed," Amelia said, doing the last fold. "Wonder what they're up to? It's not a temperature cold enough to cause them to want to hibernate yet."

Cooper looked at their surroundings - he was wondering if maybe they were retreating or waiting on a perfect opportunity to attack. These animals appeared to be intelligent.

They walked toward the door and Coop held up his hand to scan. "After you," he said as he waited on Amelia to walk in first.

She hurried to take her jacket and shoes off, now only in a tight t-shirt, leggings and socks. "I should probably head to bed since I'm not feeling my best." Cooper agreed.

"I'm going to write for a little bit, then I'll be in." Amelia nodded and walked toward her room.

"Don't be up too long. I'm not used to sleeping by myself anymore, you know." Cooper chuckled, walking over to his desk.

"I won't be far behind ya."

* * *

Moses and Ellie walked out of their favorite bar, back toward Moses' apartment. "I'm sorry about him, Mose." They had caught Ren with some NASA intern.

"I shouldn't be so bothered by this! He's your brother! You should be bothered that he was making out with a 19 year old!" Ellie laughed as she grabbed Moses' shoulder.

"So you do like my brother!" Moses swatted her hand away.

"I'm bothered by his lack of decorum and disrespect for protocol." They continued to move though the sidewalk.

"Ellie! Mose!" They both stopped and trend around to see Ren running toward them.

"Ellie, have fun with brother-dearest, there. I'm going home." Ren caught up to her.

"Moses! You listen to me-" she slapped Ren across the face.

"You're 30, Ren! An intern? Really? Get away from me." Moses began to walk away again and Ellie couldn't stop her brother.

"I've been hitting on you for eons, Mose, and now you're jealous? Ha!" Moses stopped and squinted her eyes at him.

"Look here, asshole, maybe I did like you, but I don't now! Not after that!" Moses was finally able to get away, weaving her way through the crowded sidewalk.

"Good going there, big brother," Ellie said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Elle." Ellie smirked and ran to catch up with her friend.

* * *

Cooper had gotten to bed about two hours after Amelia; he wrote for a while, deciding that writing every day would be the best way for the future generations and himself to remember this delicate time in history. He could tell that Amelia wasn't sleeping well. She was tossing and turning much more so than usual. Maybe I should wake her up? See if she's okay? He decided he'd give it a few minutes before waking her up. Maybe she would calm down soon.

He hoped she wasn't actually sick, hopefully this was just what she thought it was. Cooper's mind shifted to Amelia's admission about never being able to have children. Was that her excuse for never wanting children back on Earth? Any child she ever had would have been safe underground with her and the rest of NASA.

_You troubled, beautiful, fascinating creature_, he thought as he watched her before falling asleep himself.

* * *

**"Hey, we agreed - ninety percent."** She could feel the emotional agony manifesting itself in physical pain as she watched him fall toward Gatgantua.

"No, no, no!" She cried into her hands, even though she was separated from them by gloves and the glass of her helmet. "Cooper, Cooper, no!"

She passed out again, finally coming to hours later, according to CASE. "Come back, Cooper," she whispered, knowing that there was no way that it could ever happen. "Cooper..."

CASE let her know that it was safe to move around and that she could take her suit off. She weakly maneuvered out of the clothing and toward the cabin with the population bombs. "You all are my life now, I guess," she whispered soothingly, as if they were infants already, weak and asleep. "We'll make it, I swear." She was floating through the halls as soft tears stuck to her eyelashes.

"Dr. Brand, we should reach Edmunds' planet in twenty days." Amelia nodded as she headed toward the bunks.

_Please be alive, Wolf, you're the only bit of hope that I have left._ CASE got the spin going fast enough to simulate gravity so that she could lay down.

She really wished she could just hear a non-robotic voice right now, but she really wished that she had someone there to tell her that it would all be okay, someone other than herself. "Dad, why? Why did you do this to us?" _You know why_, she thought.

Her father had jumped at the opportunity to get Cooper on that ship because he knew the drive that Cooper had, that survival instinct that was so strong, little had John Brand known that his daughter would be left all alone with a marine robot and some fertilized eggs. Maybe she'd see Edmunds again, but she knew that the likelihood of that was slim. Her father had lied to everyone, but somehow, she couldn't hate him for it, no matter how hard she tried, because she knew that in her father's eyes, he had done all he could to save the earth. If Edmunds was alive, chances were they were the only two humans left in existence, and if he was dead, she was more alone than anyone in human history ever had been.

_Cooper._ Was it just her imagination or had those last moments they had together felt like something more? She was probably so desperate for human contact that her mind was leading her to believe that there was something else there that to sane eyes was not. There was no way that he could have seen her that way, especially with all they had going on, and who was she kidding? She wasn't his type. At least he had seen her fixed up once, but he was gone now, and it shouldn't matter to her anyway.

She cried more, unable to get him or his sacrifice off of her mind. Before they left Earth, she was pretty sure that she didn't believe in a god, but things like that, like Cooper's sacrifice, that made her question. _What human would ever do that for someone that they aren't related to or in love with? Someone like a god, that's who. The ultimate sacrifice._

_But if there is a god, why had he or she let me live only to be alone? _

This, whatever this feeling was that she had for Cooper, was completely new, or at least she thought it was. His actions had humbled her beyond belief, now here she was, alone, wishing that he was with her right now, and selfishly, not just because she wanted to see him safe. They had saved each other, and now he was gone for eternity. _What's eternity, anyway?_

Amelia also decided that if there was such a place as Hell, she must be living in it at that moment.

* * *

She landed on Edmunds' planet sometime later, and CASE had quickly identified Wolf's crumpled cryo pod.

"Why?" She had still had some small sliver of hope left once she got off the ship, thinking that maybe he was alive. To prove her wrong, there he was - fell asleep in his own damn casket. She fell to the ground and heaved, no tears left in her body. "Cooper, please," she whispered to herself. Maybe if she said his name enough, she'd feel better. "Cooper."

CASE let her lay there for a bit before suggesting she go sleep on the ship.

"Cooper."

* * *

"Cooper, Cooper!" Amelia was crying in her sleep.

"Amelia, wake up," Cooper tried whispering, pulling her to him. "Wake up!" Her eyes finally opened and she saw him, hugging him tightly.

"You're alive!" He didn't respond, now knowing what she had dreamt about.

"Shhhhh, you're okay, we're okay." These past few days had been rough on her emotionally, but he couldn't figure out why. It had all started when he'd suggested starting up Plan B, then earlier when she talked about his sacrifice, and now she was having to relive it. They were like soldiers who came back from war with PTSD. Maybe they hadn't fought a typical war, but they had and were still fighting a battle. "We're okay."

"I- I had- had the dream," she stammered through tears, "about when you left. It's been a while since I had it last" She tried to slow her breathing. "I was alone! I didn't think that I would ever see you again."

Cooper still held her, letting her talk. He'd never really heard this story before because he was scared to ask, knowing that it bothered her. "I got here and thought that just maybe, maybe Wolf was alive, but he wasn't. And you weren't with me, and dad was dead, and I was alone!"

"I'm never leaving you alone like that again, you hear me?" Cooper asked, feeling Amelia nod. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Please don't. Stay." There was that word again:_ stay. _Cooper gently smiled at that statement, happy that she wanted him here just as badly as he wanted to be with her.

"Forever," he replied as he held her hand. She attempted to stop crying, her efforts finally working.

"Good," she said as she curled into him. "I'd like that."

* * *

"Moses, you're the only one that we can send back that will have any sort of connection to what's going on." He head was spinning and she thought she might just fall over. All of these board members sat around her, each telling her what she would be doing, and she was too nervous to talk.

"Moses, we must prevent the explosion from ever happening, don't you see? You will change the past to change the future, you'll be saving lives." _Saving lives?_ Lives that are gone were just lives gone as far as Moses was concerned.

"Moses, you're the one - you're the one we're sending into the black hole."


	16. Chapter 16: Vulneraverunt

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 16: Vulneraverunt

"You'll be leaving in two weeks time, Mose, just in time to arrive and not look suspicious," Ren said, handing Moses a box of tissues. "Look, I'm sorry, but you were the best option we had. You have a personal connection to this, which means you'll be more committed to seeing it through."

"Like no one else would be? We're trying to save nearly a thousand lives here, Ren. There are others here who are emotionally connected to the mission." Ren crossed his arms, leaning up against the wall.

"But you've got power here that no one else does. And everything here will disappear, this moment that we're having right now will have never existed, and you will never had to have left. If all goes according as planned, you'll still be born, still live your life as normal. You'll still be here." Moses walked over to the window and looked over the ground. It was now so different than the land she'd seen in history books and heard stories about. This wasn't a ghost town anymore - far from it.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Moses asked, crying still. "What am I going to do about my family, Ren? I can't tell them."

"You'll be saving your family a lot of heartache by doing this for us, Moses." As sickened as she was at the thought of being shot into a black hole and maybe popping out in the right place, she knew he was right.

"I'll do it for my family, Ren, and no one else. As far as I'm concerned, NASA can kiss my ass."

* * *

"How's the bug DNA?" Cooper asked as Amelia walked into the common area.

"Nothing I haven't seen before, which is great." He nodded and put his tablet down. "What have you been writing? I haven't asked because I didn't want to pry."

"Our own little history book," Cooper replied, "I'm obviously nowhere near done, obviously."

"Sounds kind of like a journal." Amelia sat down in one of the chairs near their desks. "It's a really good idea." She watched as he continued. "Any juicy stories in there?"

He winked at her before putting his stylus down. "Nah, just the facts. You're mentioned a lot, of course." Amelia smiled, happy that he had found something he enjoyed.

"Did you write a lot back home?" He shook his head 'no'.

"I didn't. Never had the desire, nor the time." _He was probably too busy with the farm_, she thought.

"I think this is great that you're doing this - a first hand account of what it was like here... what it is like here." She wasn't going to ask to read it. Something told her that he wasn't ready to share it.

"The way I look at it, we're like the pioneers that discovered the west. We're roughin' it here so that down the road other people don't have to." Amelia liked the way he'd worded that. He'd made them both sound interesting and tough. She thought he was interesting and tough anyway, but she never thought of herself as tough; interesting, maybe.

"You make me sound brave," she replied, smiling.

"Well, you are," Cooper stated. She sighed, putting her hands together.

"Not compared to you! Who is the one who remains calm when those things howl at night?" Cooper smirked, happy that she'd noticed.

"We've all got things we're scared of, Amelia."_ I'm scared of you not feeling safe_, he thought.

* * *

"Coop, I'm getting a lot of activity from those probes." He looked at TARS as he pulled up the footage.

"Damn, there's a lot of them," Cooper said, shocked. "I haven't seen a pack this big."

"It looks like it's about three packs that have met up," TARS explained. Cooper backed up from the robot, getting a better view.

"For what, TARS? Coffee?" Cooper tapped him on the side.

"Yeah, Cooper. They meet up every Tuesday to gossip over lattes." He 'blinked', letting Cooper know he'd caught onto the joke.

"Will you keep monitoring this pack? I guess you can't follow them too far, but you can keep up for a while, right?"

"I can. I'll keep you updated." Cooper nodded.

"Don't let Dr. Brand know, okay? I don't think she'd handle it too well." TARS began to walk away.

"Wouldn't think of it, Coop. I know she's especially sensitive to this topic." Cooper thought about how terrified Amelia would be just at a look of that picture, glad she was in the shower, not seeing or hearing any of this.

"Thanks, buddy."

* * *

Moses sat with RAID for an hour, just staring at him. "I'll never see you again, RAID. They're keeping me at headquarters for the next two weeks before launch to make sure I stay healthy. I can't bring anything with me."

"Moses, you could talk to your mom. She could stop this." Moses shook her head.

"This will save my mom a lot of pain. After the explosion, that was all she could focus on until Law came along, and besides, I love her. If I didn't have to see her in that pain, it would be great." RAID rolled away just a bit.

"There was something that you've told me that your father used to tell you when you were younger, that we can't change the past." Moses rolled her eyes.

"Well, apparently we can." RAID came back, concerned.

"... and that if we can, we shouldn't."

* * *

Cooper woke up not too long after finally falling asleep. Amelia was still up, reading over notes.

"Why're you still up?" She sat the stack of papers on her lap.

"I can't sleep. I don't know why, but I just can't." Cooper sat up next to her, taking the notes from her lap. He began to flip through the pages and smiled.

"Yeah, insect DNA data keeps me up at night, too." Amelia took the stack and gently whacked him in the head.

"Asshole!" She laughed, causing him to smirk. "This is important, you know."

"I know, I don't understand it, but I know it's important." Cooper turned off the little light over her head. "Gimme the papers and I'll put 'em over here on the floor."

She handed him the stack before laying down. "What's the concern with my sleep?"

"Your health," Cooper replied immediately. "Sleep is important, and I know how your brain works. You don't sleep unless you're exhausted or have nothing to distract you."

"You know me well." He gently placed the papers on the floor.

"Anything else on your mind right now?" She shrugged folding her hands together over her stomach.

"Always, but what about you?" Cooper chuckled lightly before responding.

"You know I'm always planning my next move, now, Brand," _like when am I going to tell you about the handshake and that I love you? How can I say it in a way only you would understand? _

"Oh, yes, I know."

* * *

_If you're reading this letter, that means that the mission never went as planned and my failure to solve the equation ended up being deathly. That's a risk I had to take. Please share this with Laura and Jack, as I feel as if they need to know. Tell them that I love them, too._

_My parents, I love you; the two beacons of hope and light in this mostly dark world of mine. Your love, your guidance, and your never-ending support has led me here, but you cannot blame yourselves for my departure. This was the mess that I created when I suggested that maybe there would be a way to correct the station explosion from 17 years ago. There is no guarantee that it will work, since I never got to finish the equation, but it's close enough that maybe I'll make it. I'm leaving you everything I own to do with what you please, but keep RAID. He's really a jewel, and if it doesn't bother you too much, can you hang my jacket up in the coat closet in the house? It might make dad feel like I'm close. I always will be.  
_

_While I am making a sacrifice, it is nothing compared to the sacrifices that you both and hundreds of others have made. Please forgive me, but I'm doing this to save your pasts from a lot of pain, or at least some of the pain you two have gone through. __I'll be saving hundreds of families from being damaged or all together destroyed, and those hundreds of lives outweigh my own._

_Love, Mose _

"Daddy..." Moses said aloud, no one around to hear. "I'm sorry." She could see her father now, begging her not to do this to him.

**We can't change the past, and even if we can, we shouldn't.**

* * *

Cooper jolted up, the beasts' barking louder than he had ever heard. _Don't wake her up,_ he thought to himself.

Amelia was still asleep, miraculously, and Cooper decided to get out of the bed and quietly leave. "CASE?" he whispered once he reached the common area.

"Yes, Cooper?" Cooper slipped into his boots, walking toward the lab to grab a gun. CASE waited to respond until Cooper came back to the room.

"You come with me. We're gonna go kill those things." CASE backed up from Cooper. "TARS isn't exactly calm and composed."

"Dr. Brand would not approve, sir." He knew she wouldn't, but he also knew that if he could kill a few of these, they might retreat all together.

"I know she won't but she doesn't need to be involved. It'll only make her scared."

* * *

Cooper headed toward the noise, his gun ready. "CASE, I think we're getting closer."

"It would appear so." CASE kept a good watch. "Cooper, keep that gun ready. I can feel a vibration coming from the north."

"Something I could never feel, I guess?" Cooper looked forward.

"No, the human body can't feel vibrations such as this." He nodded, looking around the area. "Cooper! Stop! Keep steady."

Cooper stood ready to shoot. "How far out are we?"

"Only a third of a click. Not far." Cooper was glad that they weren't too far away, but he knew that Amelia would eventually hear the gun shots.

He heard a growl. "M'kay, CASE, I guess I should be ready."

"Yes," CASE replied. "You'll be shooting soon."

* * *

_**BAM! **_

Amelia shot up in the bed. "Cooper!" She looked over to where Cooper should be, and suddenly heard a howl.

"Fuck-fuck-fuck! CASE!" Amelia jumped out of the bed and ran into the common area. "CASE?"

"CASE isn't here, Dr. Brand. He's with Cooper." Amelia looked at TARS, confused. "He's with Cooper. They're trying to kill the beasts."

"That ass!" Amelia screamed as she ran to the lab to grab a gun. "TARS, stay here." She found some shoes and threw them on before running outside.

"Cooper! Cooper!" Amelia followed the sound of the barking, finally seeing Cooper, down on the ground, surrounded by the beasts. _Okay, Amelia, you've had some lessons, put them to use._

"One... two... three."

* * *

_**BAM!**_

Cooper watched as one of the beasts went down, then another, and another. "Amelia?" he asked, astonished. He heard three more shots, probably killing the last of the pack.

"Dammit, Cooper!" Amelia threw the gun down and ran to his side. "What in the hell were you doing?"

He was too weak to respond. "CASE, pick him up and let's run him back into the unit. I'm going to have to do some stitches, and bandages obviously."

Amelia watched as CASE gently grabbed Cooper, and she retrieved his gun. "Cooper, I thought I'd lost you! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

He did not look like he was in good shape and that terrified her. She grabbed her gun from the ground and ran to catch up with CASE.

"Dr. Brand, once we reach the unit, would you like me to put him in your bed or his?" No doubt that Amelia would be stitching him up and wrapping him in bandages for an hour at least.

"Put him in my bed. It's more comfortable, anyway." Cooper was able to lightly laugh, but couldn't really respond. "It's good to hear you laugh. I would say that I never knew how happy I'd be to hear you laugh but that would be a lie."

"I'll get the door opened, Dr. Brand," CASE said as they reached the unit. CASE and TARS were both set up to open the doors from wherever they were, something that they had never had to use until now.

"Thank you, CASE," Amelia exclaimed as the door opened. CASE rushed Cooper to Amelia's room, and Amelia helped him down to the bed. "There we go. Okay, Cooper, I'm going to start stitching you up. I'm going to cut your clothes off instead of trying to make you move. That would be cruel." Amelia grabbed her scissors out of one of her drawers and began cutting Cooper out of his shirt and pants. "God, they got you good." Amelia quickly grabbed her medical kit. "I've got some numbing meds, but this is going to hurt regardless, and I'm sorry."

She began cleaning the wounds with alcohol, and she could tell that Cooper did not like it. After about 20 minutes, Amelia declared that she was almost done cleaning the wounds. "They didn't get deep, but they got you. You didn't lose too much blood, just got some damage."

Amelia got the needle and thread ready, covering his cuts in the numbing medication first. "I'm going to start now." As soon as she stuck the needle in, Cooper made a painful noise. "You can do it."

Another hour in, Amelia was finished with him. "We're finished,I'm going to grab you some pain meds. It'll help you sleep tonight."

"'Melia..." She sat next to him on the bed, running her fingers over his hairline.

"Yes?" Cooper closed his eyes again.

"Thanks." She smiled at him, trying to let him know he'd be okay.

"Think nothing of it, Cooper. I know you would do it for me, if you could handle it." He opened his eyes, knowing she'd meant that as a joke. "I'm going to go get those meds, okay? I'll be right back." She got up and walked out of the room, headed toward the lab where she kept the medicine.

Cooper watched as she left, even though tilting his head was painful, it was well worth it. She had put him back together, but she would probably argue against that, saying that they put each other back together every day.

"Okay, here we go," Amelia said as she walked back into the room with the medicine and a bag of water. "You'll be better in no time."

* * *

"We haven't been in my bed in a month so how in the hell d'you remember if it was comfortable or not?" Amelia looked at him, happy he was talking. It had been almost five hours since the incident and Amelia had been getting up every hour to go in and check on him.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You said your bed was more comfortable than mine earlier, remember?" She smiled and went to kneel next to the bed.

"Well, I can attest to it now. That's where I've been sleeping tonight." He chuckled, patting next to him on the bed.

"Come on down, Dr. Brand," he playfully said. "I've got room."

"You need all the space you can get right now. I'm going to throw the balance off, and-"

"Get your ass down here." _At least he's back to being himself._

"Cooper..." He patted the mattress again. "Fine, fine," Amelia replied as she crawled into the bed. "Alright then, I guess I'm here now." She pulled the covers back over them both. "You feeling better?"

"Much better, thanks to you," he replied as she settled in. She looked tired, no doubt because she had been getting up and checking on him constantly. "Maybe if you stay in here you can get some sleep."

"But I won't, you know how I am." Cooper knew how she was, for sure. "I was so worried earlier, Cooper. I thought I was going to lose you, and I don't ever want to go through losing you again." She paused and turned to her side. "I was happy to see that once we got in here and I got a look at the wounds, they weren't as serious as I thought they were. I was relieved."

"Amelia, you were amazing out there. Every shot you fired you hit your target." Amelia had forgotten about it, so focused on making sure he was okay.

"Those lessons weren't for nothing, I suppose," she replied.

"You saved me." Amelia sat up and looked at him.

"You've saved me before, too, ya know. Three times." _Miller's planet, falling into Gargantua, and coming back to be with me_. "You left the modern technology of that station, which I'm sure was a lot more advanced than any of this."

"It was worth it," he whispered as Amelia put her head back on the pillow.


	17. Chapter 17: Suavis

Readers, thank you for the feedback! These next two chapters are going to be filled with major things!

I loved this movie for it's story AND science, but I'm not going for scientific accuracy here. With the way I'm taking the story (which I've known that I'd do for 6 weeks now), I just can't do it. Call up Kip Thorne if you're looking for scientific accuracy, because you won't find it here. I've tried to make it sound accurate so that it's an enjoyable reading experience, but I hope that you'll be able to take this for what it is: me trying to entertain you.

I recommend getting on the Subreddit, r/interstellar if you can. There are a lot of other crazy fans there just like us, and they've been posting some good content. I don't recommend trying to argue with the Nolan purists, though. They're not the most welcoming on Reddit.

Anyway lovelies, here's Chapter 17!

* * *

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 17: Suavis

"A ranger went missing from Brand Station years ago, and they were unable to track it, oddly enough." Moses walked into the atrium of headquarters with Professor Tolbert. "The GPS unit, the radio, everything apparently had been taken out. The video footage from the hangar had even been wiped out. There was never a report of a missing person, so they assumed that it was a technical glitch that they for some reason had no explanation for. It was kept very hush-hush." Moses could understand why they wouldn't want anyone to know about that. "We've installed a GPS system that knows the 'sweet spot' for the time you need to enter. It will be well concealed, but we obviously won't be able to read the data here because we'll be on the other side and this timeline will - if all goes according to plan - have never existed."

"So you're putting me in a replica ranger?" Professor Tolbert shook his head.

"No, the ranger landed here around six years later, when the colonization began. The stations had only begun shuttling people onto Edmunds about a two months prior. Everyone just assumed that it had come through the wormhole, which it had, and it arrived empty. You should know that story, at least, it's original location was just kept top secret."

Moses stopped as they walked through the atrium, staring at Murphy again. "So that's the same ranger? Kind of freaky, not going to lie."

"Time is 'freaky', Moses." She couldn't agree more.

"How do we know that this same ship isn't going to show up at the same time? And we know that we can't manipulate time like that, Professor. "We're nearly positive that outside of a black hole matter cannot exist in two places, and what do you think you've been working on all this time?" Professor Tolbert paused and looked up at the painting as well. "She was my professor, but you've known that for a long time. She is the reason that I believe, and she's the reason you believe, too. I know you do." Moses wondered how Murphy had known where the data from inside the black hole had come from. "If black holes control gravity and time, wouldn't they be able to take you to wherever you wanted? Our data says so, but we can't send probes through and back, because we'd be living the same thing over and over, just discovering a probe that kept appearing, and if we attached information to it - that it had traveled through the past, who would believe it?"

"No one." Professor Tolbert nodded.

"And if we attached that information, it could alter the timeline way too much - make too many people too aware." Moses looked down at the floor before asking Professor Tolbert another question.

"Then how am I not going to screw up the timeline, in a bad way, not the way we want to?" Professor Tolbert smiled, motioning for Moses to come with him.

"We're assigning a new identity to you. You can come up with the name; we thought you'd have fun with that. It just has to be a name that no one would recognize, and that way when you disappear, no one will be surprised to find the ranger gone." Moses' eyes got wide.

"Disappear?"

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Amelia walked out of her room to find Cooper sitting in a chair and staring at the wall. It had been two days since the attack and he was hoping Amelia would let him leave the unit.

"I'm ready to go outside again, that's for sure." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Amelia, I'll be fine, okay? And besides, you can trail behind me and shoot if one comes near me." She obviously did not find that amusing.

"Your health and safety isn't something I want to make a joke of, Cooper." He suppressed a smile, knowing that he was treading on thin ice.

"When had you planned on giving me the okay to leave the unit?" She sat down across from him.

"Honestly, I kind of don't want you to leave. I know that's unreasonable, and imprisonment, but I can't lose you again, and there are others still out there!" Cooper finally smiled and relaxed in his chair.

"Do I look like I am an indoors kind of guy?" Amelia smiled back, shaking her head. "I think you gathered that when you met me."

"I will worry every time you walk out there and I'm not with you." Cooper got up slowly, still having a little difficulty walking.

"Then come with me. Bring a gun. You can wear chainmail for all I care. As long as it will give you some peace of mind, it'll be worth it." She got up from her chair and met him halfway.

"I'm afraid we didn't pack any chainmail when we left Earth, Cooper. We left it with the Round Table." He smiled, trying to imagine Amelia in some Joan of Arc getup. "I will come with you and I am bringing a gun."

"Dr. Brand's goin' huntin'! I knew there was a little redneck spitfire in you!" Amelia walked into her room, shaking her head.

"Just like you asked me if you looked like someone who was comfortable being inside all of the time, 'redneck' is not a term that I would ever apply to myself." Cooper walked toward her room to find her sitting on the bed, putting on socks.

"Eh, I guess you're right." He'd only said it to rile her up, anyway.

* * *

"CASE, you stay here while we go try to find more bugs, and TARS, you're coming with us. CASE, send any alerts or information to TARS, and we'll do the same." Amelia slipped on her backpack and tightened up her shoelaces.

"Will do, Cooper." Amelia motioned for Cooper to follow her.

"We're not going too far, not with you still having a little difficulty walking." Cooper went along with it, knowing that Amelia needed a little control in order to feel safe. "Hopefully we can still find something, though."

Her curiosity never ceased to fascinate him. He knew that on this planet, she'd never have that curiosity satisfied, but that was a good thing. He couldn't imagine Amelia ever wanting to retire from being an explorer of sorts.

"And it's a particularly pretty day to go on a little walk, don't you think?" He snapped back to attention.

"Oh, yeah it's beautiful out today." They reached the edge of the forest, which Amelia had decided was as far as they would go, only traveling its perimeter.

"Even as different as this place is from Earth, it's also so similar. I feel like we're getting to see this planet in a way that no evolved human ever got to see Earth," she exclaimed as they examined a plant for possible bugs. "This is where I found the two from before."

"You callin me a caveman, Brand?" She chuckled as she got up from bending over into the bush.

"If I was, I'd be calling myself one, too, you know." He nodded, snapping his fingers.

"Cooper will be drawing pictures in caves before we know it," TARS said from behind them, getting their attention. "Cooper isn't the best artist though. Did you see that marker board drawing of Gargantua back on the Endurance? Elementary at best."

"TARS, buddy, sometimes I wonder why I didn't make you into an over-qualified vacuum cleaner when I had the chance." Amelia liked to watch the two of them exchange words because it always seemed to be some kind of friendly competition.

"I only keep you around because you're part of my plan for the robot colony that I'm going to start up with CASE." The light at the top of his screens flashed. "Dr. Brand, you have immunity from the takeover."

"I'm flattered, TARS." Cooper looked over at Amelia and smiled.

"Why does she get special treatment?" Cooper asked. TARS leaned toward him, getting ready to speak.

"She has to put up with you all the time; she deserves some kind of reward for it." Amelia burst out laughing. Cooper bit his bottom lip in a smile.

* * *

"What do you mean, 'disappear'?" Moses was starting to sweat.

"Like we have discussed for years, Moses, matter cannot exist in two places at once within the same timeline." Moses motioned for Professor Tolbert to follow her down the hall and into her and Ren's office. "If you stay there past the moment you were conceived in the first place, you will never exist in that timeline."

Moses burst through the door, causing Ren to jump. "Ren, I want you to witness this conversation, okay? Just do it for me. Just do it." Moses looked at Tolbert and rolled her eyes. "So am I supposed to go jump off of some cliff to my death? Shoot myself? Stab myself?"

"No, no, nothing like that, but-" Moses held up a hand.

"And what's the difference between me going out there and telling them not to go through with Miller Station and telling a younger Ren to not go to the park because he broke his finger? How in the hell am I supposed to convince them that I'm legit?" Ren watched on with a somber expression. Seeing her upset like this was never something he handled well. Moses began to cry, mascara streaming her face.

"You wouldn't become the person you are today - the person everyone loves. There would never be a Moses," Tolbert replied. "You'd be saving lives, ensuring that we don't fall years behind in research. Do you remember when NASA had to shut down for two years, Moses? How did your mother handle that? How did she handle losing half of her colleagues?" Moses felt like punching Tolbert square in the face.

"Tolbert, I think that's enough," Ren said, stepping in between the two of them. "Let me talk to her." He motioned Tolbert to leave before taking hold of Moses' shoulders. "I know that you're really confused right now," he whispered to her, taking a hand and wiping her eyes. "I'm confused, too."

"Why, Ren?" I thought I was going to blend in! I thought I'd keep living, just as a different person. Matter in two places outside of a black hole... how did it never occur to me? I'll never be born if I stay alive." Moses slowly fell to the floor, Ren following her._ I'll never be born if I stay alive,_ she kept repeating in her head. _ What a weird fate._

"Because your mother has so much power now, and did then, too, Mose - everyone trusts her. If you can convince her, she can nip this thing in the bud as quickly as she wants." Moses nodded, knowing he was right.

"How am I supposed to handle seeing all of them, Ren?" Ren stared at her for a moment before responding.

"You don't tell your mom who you are until you absolutely have to - you need to get out of there at least two months before she realized she was pregnant with you. She'll keep it a secret... I know she will. Your mother is an amazing woman." Moses chuckled through her tears.

"Amazing _person_, Ren. She'd hate to hear you using gender-centric words to describe her. She loves you too much." Ren chuckled in return, hugging her to him. It was time that he tell her the hardest part of the whole mission.

"Mose, about the you disappearing from there, we've come up with a pretty painless way of doing that." Moses sniffled as she tried to regain some composure. "The ranger is equipped with gas that will turn the inside of the vehicle into a sleeping chamber, knocking you out for however long you set it for. That's how we're getting you there, and that's how you're leaving."

"Okay, what am I supposed to set it at, then?" Ren looked away, trying to find the words.

"You aren't," Moses looked at him, confused. "You're going to program the ranger to shoot you into a star. It will kill you in your sleep. You'll go painlessly." Moses backed away from Ren, scrambling to get away.

"So I actually do have to kill myself?!" She began crying and fell back on the floor.

"But this timeline that we live in will have never existed once you cross into the past. You'll still be born, and you'll get to live a long healthy life." She shook her head, getting up from the floor.

"No, Ren, I won't. That Moses will, but not me. I'll have to die!" Ren frowned and got up, walking toward her.

"Even if you can't convince her, you still have to do it. You can't lurk around being an alarmingly correct psychic." Moses sat up, still crying.

"But why?" She leaned into him, sobbing on his shoulder. "Why?"

"Moses, what do you think Murph would have done if she was in your shoes?" She wiped her eyes, backing away from Ren gently.

"She'd fulfill the mission at whatever the cost." He gently smiled and nodded. "What would Murphy do?"

* * *

"Did you all find any insects?" CASE asked upon TARS, Cooper, and Amelia's return.

"No, maybe tomorrow, CASE. Thanks for keeping guard," Amelia replied as she held her hand up to the screen to get into the unit.

"Don't think of it, Dr. Brand." All four of them walked into the unit. "Did TARS tell you all the news?" Cooper and Amelia turned around to look at CASE.

"CASE, I didn't receive any data," TARS stated as the door closed behind him. "I'm serious."

"CASE, what's going on?" Cooper questioned the marine.

"I picked up a signal. I don't know who from, but there's someone or something now in our galaxy." Amelia dropped the plastic box, the pieces flying across the floor.

Cooper put a hand on Amelia's shoulder, trying to steady her. "It's coming from the north eastern region of the galaxy, not terribly far, but also not terribly close to this planet."

"The wormhole..." Amelia whispered, her eyes growing wider. "It's them."

"No way to know for certain, Dr. Brand, but I haven't sent a signal back for fear that these beings aren't friendly people." Cooper cringed at the fear he felt from that statement. It sounded like the plot line of a science fiction novel, and he never thought any of that could come true, but this had to be from humans.

"Amelia, should we send out a response signal?" Cooper asked her. She was silent for a moment before breaking out of her daze. "

"One - just one."

* * *

"How long until you think we can get rid of the stitches?" Amelia shrugged, cleaning up around his wounds again.

"A week and a half, maybe." There was a long silence that was not going unnoticed.

"You gonna talk about that signal?" He watched as she meticulously cleaned around the stitches. "Hello?"

"Cooper, it's just a little scary for me, okay?" She put the cloth down and turned her attention toward the window. "I never imagined that you'd make it here - to me, you were dead. When CASE told me that he detected something entering this solar system months ago, which turned out to be you, I was petrified. Obviously I didn't know it was you then, but I'm sure you can understand my fear. Now here we are, and for all we know, these beings are coming to kill us, but we can't risk not sending out a signal. If we don't send a signal and it turns out that they're human, they might turn around and leave. We had to take the risk."

"But think of what's about to happen if the signal is from humans, Amelia! Look at the positive side of this." She nodded, grabbing the cloth and going back to working on his wounds.

"I hope that the signal is from humans, but I'm terrified of what it is if it's not." Cooper watched as she moved on to another cut. "Good, God! I cannot believe that I'm actually considering aliens here. I never thought I'd have to be dealing with aliens!"

"I don't think they're aliens. If CASE thinks that the signal came from that end of the galaxy, how long do you think it took for their signal to get here? We aren't that far away, are we?" Cooper understood how light and radio signals traveled, but he never trusted his knowledge on topics like this until Amelia confirmed them for him.

"A little less than 14 hours, if I was to guess. But in all actuality, who knows considering the technological advancements that have obviously been made since our time," she replied, dabbing a stitched-up cut with an alcohol cloth. She rolled his sleeve back down. "You should've just taken off your shirt off. Would've been a lot easier," she said innocently.

"Never heard you be so forward on matters such as this, Dr. Brand." She smiled in return and shook her head.

"You are just awful... don't know how many times I've said that before." She looked beautiful just then, not that she was never beautiful before. She was always beautiful, but his little joke seemed to lift her spirits a bit. It was moments like this that made Cooper want to tell her about the handshake, times when he became more sure than it seemed possible that he was in love with her. He knew that love was something that she didn't play around with lightly, and for that reason he had held off from confessing to her. Cooper was sure that if he held it in much longer, he'd probably say it in his sleep and it would freak the shit out of her. He also wondered if she even felt the same way. What if she didn't?

"I need fresh air," Cooper exclaimed as Amelia finished up. "The smell of that stuff is kind of strong." She giggled as she threw the rag into the bin. "You wanna go outside? Still nice out."

"Sure, just make sure to put the shield up. I'm not taking any chances this close to sunset." She held out her hands to him to help pull him up.

"I'm strong enough to get myself out of a chair," Cooper exclaimed, humor in his voice. "I know you're tryin' to help." He stood up and she let go of his hands. "Now don't get mad at me, Amelia."

She flashed him a million-watt smile. "I'm not mad, but I don't think you like the idea of me taking care of you. You like it the other way around... not even a fifty-fifty deal. How very sexist of you!" Cooper felt like catching her right at that moment and holding her there forever, reassuring her that she did take care of him and a lot of other things here. Amelia definitely served as the brains of the operation.

"TARS, put the shield up, please... takin' the doctor here for some air." She still had that smile plastered across her face, and that made him sheepishly in return.

"You know I'm not an actual medical doctor, I just happen to have a vast general knowledge of what it takes to keep a human body going. Can you imagine me tending to patients that weren't you? I wouldn't have nearly the patience with them as I do with you." Amelia and patience weren't two things that really went together in his mind.

"You, patient? Puh-lease," he replied as they walked outside.

"Exactly my point, here, Cooper!" she breathed as she leaned against the side of the unit. Cooper stood in front of her. "I have no patience. I guess that's a good and bad thing at times." She looked down at her feet before meeting his eyes again. "Hey, we never finished discussing your inability to let me take care of you," she said, putting a finger to his chest.

"I guess I'm just kind of into the idea of you needing me," Cooper admitted, reaching out to take her arm in his hands, looking at the pale, delicate skin that covered her veins.

"Oh, but I do need you. There is so much here that I'm not prepared to or can do. The greenhouse was a bust until you got here, and just imagine me with a gun if it wasn't for you." He saw her smile again, watching him intently.

"I can't help but feel protective of you - it's kind of programmed into me," he replied, which she knew was true. "But hey, look what happened last time I tried to protect you."

"And I'm grateful that you care that much, but damn, you scared me." With his head down, he chuckled to himself. There was something about her that was sweet, but she obviously did not acknowledge or notice it, and something told him that Amelia never wanted to be called 'sweet'. "You mean a lot to me."

"Well, you mean a lot to me, too, Amelia," he said honestly. _ God, I wanna kiss those lips right now._

He didn't have to lean down far to reach her as she slid her arms around him. Their lips met, slowly following this steps. Amelia could feel that this wasn't a heavy, lusty kiss - this was soft. She knew they'd kissed like this before, but more than ever, she was really appreciating the feeling. She could feel that hunger as she usually did with him, but this kiss was unusually, but welcomely sweet. Something was different about him since the attack, but not in a terrible way - it had forced him to calm down, and it had allowed her to see a different side of him. She liked all of him before, obviously, but

Cooper didn't think he could hold off telling her about their encounter in the wormhole any longer. If he wanted to be with her wholly and for the rest of his life, she'd have to find out sooner or later. He felt her pull away, wondering why she'd stopped.

"You're really good at that," Amelia said softly, smiling to herself. "Like, really, really good."

"Then why did you stop it? I'm still here." She touched his lips with her thumb.

"Eh, can't waste all the fun just on kissing up against a wall like we're playing hooky, now could I, Cooper?" He smirked as she talked, her facial expressions so dramatic, but on purpose.

"I'll play hooky with you any time you want," he whispered, lifting up her chin to look at him. "What'd I do to deserve this second shot at life, especially with you?"

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Oh, it's real good, Amelia. Real good." He still held her face up, looking into her eyes as if he was trying to read something. "I've gotta tell you somethin', but you have to believe me, or at least hear me out."

* * *

"That's right, Mose. Murph would be brave," Ren stated, trying to perk her up.

"The greater good." Ren wanted to comfort her somehow, but knew it was almost impossible.

"You're incredibly brave, you know that, right?" She chuckled as she tried to talk through her tears.

"Well, thanks," she replied as she leaned up against him. "But killing myself is terrifying."

"You can't think of it like that. Just remember what you're trying to do here... for the greater good."


	18. Chapter 18: Itinere

**Interstellar: Revivisco**  
Chapter 18: Itinere

"Yeah, sure. Everything is okay, right, besides the signal?" Cooper chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, everything is fine, there's just something you need to be made aware of." Amelia got comfortable, wondering what this could be about if it had nothing to do with the signal.

"Good, I was scared there for a moment," she admitted to Cooper as she put a hand on her chest.

"I always get myself in these situations; I have something I need to tell you and then when the time comes I don't know how to word it." Amelia smiled at him.

"Take your time, Cooper. We're not in a hurry here." He knew that he didn't need to worry, but he was relieved to hear it.

_How do you tell someone something like this and expect them to believe it?_ he thought._ She's going to think that I've gone crazy._

"When I fell into Gargantua, I thought for sure I'd just black out and die, maybe you aren't supposed to just die like that when you fall through a black hole normally, I mean, I don't know how that normally works. Anyway, I didn't black out and I obviously didn't die." He couldn't tell her about the handshake and not mention what happened before it. He knew that she needed to know this. It would make her understand better why he had come here in the first place.

"I ejected from the ranger and thought that was it, that my life was over, mission completed." Amelia listened intently, knowing that this had to be big. _Do not cry,_ she told herself, _that's all you seem to do anymore._

"What could have been seconds, minutes, hours, years, hell, I don't know how long after I left the ranger, I fell through this grid. It kind of looked like a maze, but it wasn't. It was a grid you could move through, but it wasn't simply a structure." He wondered if there was maybe another 'him' watching this moment, too. Was he the one that created those perfect breezes that swept through? "It was time... this grid represented time physically."

Amelia tried to imagine this grid. Did it represent all time or just a fragment? Did it just show it, or did it let you interact with it? "So, shortly after I stopped falling through the grid, before I realized that it was a physical manifestation of time, I looked through the grid, and at the center of it, and I saw Murph." Cooper noticed Amelia hadn't said anything. "You have to listen to me, Amelia, you just got to. It wasn't a dream, because if it hadn't been for this, the stations near Saturn would have never existed and I wouldn't be here."

"It just seems unbelievable," she replied, holding out hope that it could be real.

"Not everything can be explained in an equation or a study. Remember when you said love was the only thing that cold transcend space and time, like gravity? This is proof." She decided that she'd take this into serious consideration, let her scientific assumptions and reasoning go out the window for a moment.

"I'm listening." He nodded, crossing his arms.

"Alright. I can see where this would be hard to believe, because if I hadn't lived it, I don't know if I'd believe it, either." Cooper looked at his watch and smiled. "I saw her and I realized that I was behind the bookshelf in her room - she had this huge bookshelf back home that was built into the wall... stretched the entire length of her room. She couldn't see me or hear me, nothing like that. I was screamin' and cryin', and I'm hitting the shelf with all the force I have, trying to make her notice me somehow, and it worked." Cooper leaned off of the unit, and stood in front of Amelia. "Murph used to talk about a ghost in her room. Used to knock whatever it could off of that shelf. I told her that ghosts weren't real and that if she could come up with a scientific answer as to why everything was falling all over her floor, I'd look into it."

Amelia looked up at him, obviously heartbroken, yet fascinated. "It was you, wasn't it? You were knocking things off of her shelf." Cooper gently smiled and looked up at the sky.

"It was. Then, and this is before I found your little NASA hideout, by the way, that the books eventually started to fall off of the shelf in a pattern, in Morse. One thing she recorded it trying to tell her was the word 'stay'. Turns out, I was trying to tell myself to stay there, not to leave." He remembered yelling at himself. _Make him stay, Murph. Don't let me leave, Murph._ "Before I left, I gave her a watch. Told her time was going to run differently for me when I was up in space, and that when I came back, we'd compare the clocks."

_Murph, it was me... I was your ghost. _

_I know. No one believed me, but I knew. _

"She'd thrown the watch across the room before I left, mad at me, which is understandable. Really, it's beyond understandable. But anyway, I went to another place in the grid and saw the watch sitting on the shelf, and TARS as it turns out was there with me the whole time and was able to feed me the data from inside Gargantua that would finish your father's equation. In Morse, I computed the data into that watch. That's why those stations exist. I'm even the one who gave her the coordinates for NASA headquarters."

_...because my dad promised me._

"TARS said something to me while we were in there, that _they_ didn't bring us here to change the past, but that _they_ built this grid, this tesseract for me so that I could understand why everything had happened the way that it did." Cooper looked at Amelia to make sure that she was listening. She was, awe struck. "As soon as the data was in the watch, the tesseract began to break down in a eerily beautiful way. TARS said that I'd done what needed to be done, and that _they_ made the grid collapse."

"Are_ they_ the same ones who created the wormhole?" Cooper nodded, glad that she had gathered that, but of course she had.

"_They_ are future humans, Amelia. It's us in the distant future. They've evolved so far beyond what we could comprehend. They don't experience time like us, like you said. So life is a paradox, yes, but that just makes it mean so much more, I think. Everything that has ever happened has been planned, recorded. Nothing is a natural occurrence, at least not for these people. They experience a fifth dimension."

"It's us?" she asked. Cooper couldn't tell how she felt about that. "Well, not us, but humans?"

"It's us, but there's more." He knew that this was the moment that would either make her sing or scream. "As I was leaving the tesseract, I saw the Endurance going through the wormhole, and I saw you." She raised up as soon as she heard 'you'. "I held out my hand, and you saw the disturbance in space time, and you grabbed my hand on a leap of faith."

_"First handshake," Amelia said shakily and held up her right hand._

"That was you?" He put his hands on her shoulders and nodded.

"It was me." She smiled, trying hard to not cry.

Something about hearing him say he was the one who had done that, who had given her that positive sign, that made her believe.

"Where did you come from?" Amelia asked him, putting a hand to his chest. "People like you don't exist. A literal knight in shining armor." He chuckled and thought that was a pretty high compliment. "That handshake was the only shred of hope I had, even after you detached, because that meant that something was watching over us, over me. I just don't like to admit stuff like that out loud." Amelia could feel the tears. "I told myself not to cry," she laughed. "It was you."

Cooper watched as one tear fell down her cheek - a happy tear. He was glad that they weren't the tears he was used to.

"After that, I woke up on the station, and they told me that Murph was still alive, that she'd be at the station in two weeks. I kept wondering where you were and if you were safe, but I tried to imagine that you were with Wolf again, happy. I wanted you to be happy, to get your wish."

_Alone, in a strange galaxy._

"Then when Murph told me to go find you, that you were alone, there was no question what was next. I stole a ranger in the middle of that very night, now here I am..." Cooper jumped a little when he felt Amelia's arms close around him. "... with you."

_...in our new home. _

Amelia's head was pressed against his chest, and Cooper could feel the warm tears on his shirt, but she wasn't crying so hard that her body wracked with pain. He hugged her in return, and put his head on top of hers.

"I love you, she whispered, her voice smooth and angelic.

_Did I just hear what I think I did? _Cooper wondered.

* * *

_We've just suffered our first real attack. The beasts, which we have yet to name, got a hold of me, but Dr. Brand shot the things dead and then stitched me up, no problem. She amazes me all of the time, but something tells me that if you're reading this, you already know how amazing Amelia Brand really is._

Moses shut the book, a small smile coming to her face. She could do this, especially if it meant saving her mother from years of grief and guilt, and like Tolbert had said before Ren pushed him out of the office, what would Murphy do in this situation? That was her inspiration.

* * *

_That didn't go as planned. She actually said it first_. "Did you not hear me?" He lightly chuckled as he pulled away and looked down at her. For someone who had at first had difficulty acknowledging that someone could ever want her, she'd come a long way.

"I love you, too," he replied as he smiled at just seeing her smile. His lips immediately landed softly upon hers, and Cooper kept wondering what this admission meant for the both of them. How different would things be now?

He broke their kiss, wrapping his arms around her. "I love you." He laughed in happiness and pushed her bangs off of her face. "This is real life right now, right?" She couldn't help but keep smiling, truly, fully happy for the first time in a century. She had thought that she was happy before, but this was different. She'd felt something inside of her for a while, trying to pry itself from her body, but that feeling was gone now, and she finally knew what that feeling was.

"I think so," Cooper replied as Amelia kissed him again. "Yeah, it is."

_Love, TARS, love! It's just like Brand said, my connection with Murph, it is quantifiable. It is the key!_

* * *

Moses awoke on the day of her departure, nervous yet ready, and frightened yet excited.

"Are you ready to meet the younger version of your parents? You know, once the sleeping gas takes over, when you wake up, this will feel like it happened only moments ago," Ren explained as he strapped her in. "Mose?"

"Yes?" Ren looked at Moses in a way she'd never seen him look at her before.

"Do you think that maybe, just maybe in this new timeline... do you think we'd have a chance at being together?" Moses was shocked, and didn't immediately respond. "I knew it was a stupid question." Moses pulled Ren's lab jacket collar, bringing his lips to hers. "So, maybe?" Ren asked with a smile.

"What could you ever see in me?" Ren was still smiling and shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm going to tell you what I see, or what I see in you - not what I see with my eyes. You are someone who deserves more of an explanation... not just that I find you very attractive." Moses chuckled and decided she wanted to kiss him again. "Moses, you're smart, you're funny, and you challenge me. You make me want to be better, because you're better. You're better than everyone else here. It's just who you are - part of your blood. Every day when I walk into that office, I know I'm going to see you and that thrills me. You're not like the others, Mose. You're different, but in the best way I could ever imagine."

"Ren?" He looked at her again, somehow knowing that she would make sure that this mission was successful.

"Yes, Moses?" He held her right hand between both of his.

"There are many chances."

* * *

**Two Weeks Later:**

They stood hand in hand, looking at the setting sun.

"I've got everything lined up to start incubating two fertilized eggs tomorrow," Amelia stated, looking at the horizon. "Two girls, because, well, we need all the surrogates we can get." Cooper snickered and looked down at her. "What?"

"Last time I checked, you were female, therefore able to be a surrogate." She knew that she could physically, but mentally, she wasn't so sure.

"Do you think that my 119 year old body could handle a pregnancy? That's way past menopause." He chuckled at that, knowing that Amelia had only said that to make him laugh. "What happens now?"she asked. Cooper kept looking straight ahead, and lightly gripped the hand he held.

"We keep living the lives we're living," he replied quietly. "We keep on going."

"Dr. Brand! Dr. Brand!" Cooper and Amelia both turned around to find CASE running toward them. "They sent a signal back!"

Cooper had no doubt that this signal had come from humans. Everything seemed to be unfolding at just the right time. It just made sense.

"Cooper, what should we do?!," Amelia questioned as she looked up at him. "We can set up barricades, but we're not ready to fight an army, obviously."

"Amelia, the signal has to be human, it just has to be." She didn't reply, but instead looked up in the sky. "CASE, how far away is the signal, can you tell?" Cooper waited anxiously for CASE's answer.

"I believe that the signal is very close, based on when I sent out the signal and when they responded. They are definitely coming in our direction. They could be as little as a day away." Amelia let go of Cooper's hand.

"Amelia, don't freak out. They're coming to be with us! Don't you see? They're coming to live here!" She shook her head. "Come on, Brand. Be positive."

"I find it hard to be positive in times like this, Cooper..." she trailed off, looking beyond the camp. "What if they aren't coming for us at all? What if they just want to make sure we're alive?" Amelia suddenly got an idea. "Maybe we should go into cryo-sleep."

"We are not going to make them wake us up like Dr. Mann, Amelia." She angrily frowned at him. "Hey, 'future humans', remember?"

CASE began to walk back toward camp, and Cooper and Amelia tagged along.

"I hope you're right, Cooper." Amelia wondered what life here would be like with other humans. It might be weird for a little while, but she'd gladly adjust. Other people being here meant that Cooper's losses, while great, would be worth it in some way. She also knew that they'd follow each other until the end - she just knew.

"I'm always right, Brand. You not figured that out yet?" Amelia playfully hit him in the arm as they approached the unit, and Cooper grabbed her by the waist, swinging her around. "We're gonna be okay. We're gonna make it," he said as he stopped twirling her. "This is one of the manifestations of our work, Murph's work, and your father's work. This is just even more proof that this has been worth it."

"It would be worth it for me even if no one else ever showed up, Cooper." CASE opened the door and walked in, apparently acknowledging that they were having a moment that he wasn't a part of.

* * *

"There are many chances," Moses said, kissing him again. "I'm sorry that I was too blind here to realize that we had this going for us all along." Ren was already kneeling beside her, holding her hand. "Now I have to leave."

"Maybe if you see the younger version of me, you can just tell me to try to keep my pants on." They both laughed, and Ren wiped another tear away off Moses' cheek. "I know that pushed you away."

"You were just a little thing when they began colonizing Edmunds, Ren. I don't think your parents would like that too much." Ren stared at her, amazed at her bravery.

"When you tell your mom who you are, Moses, don't be hurt when she doesn't believe you at first, and remember your new name." She nodded as she wiped another tear away.

"Joss Harper," she replied. "You like it?" Ren watched her, soaking her in for the last time.

"I snuck something from your office... this should help you if you've done everything that you can to convince her." He pulled a small picture from his lab jacket pocket. "It's the picture on your desk, I just made it smaller, and I edited out Laura and Jack. We can't have them knowing everything about their futures."

"Thank you so much." Ren hid the photo in a compartment.

"Don't let them keep it, though. They'll want to, but you have to take it away. Nothing from the future can stay there." Moses knew that, but went along with him anyway. "Something tells me that your dad will figure it out before you even reveal a thing about what you need them to do, before you reveal your true identity."

"How is he going to be able to tell who I am? He doesn't even know that I'll ever exist there."

"Ten minutes until takeoff." Ren and Moses looked at each other, knowing that their time was running out.

"What if this picture doesn't even work, Ren? It's easy to fake a picture." Ren walked out of the ranger, the door still open and took one last good look at her before giving her his final answer - the last words that he would ever say to her in this life.

"Give 'em a good handshake," he said as the door closed.

* * *

"Dr. Brand! Dr. Amelia Brand! Are you there? Captain Cooper?"

Amelia and Cooper were both suddenly wide awake, looking at each other. Cooper got up from the bed and walked toward the common area.

"Cooper, get back here! What if-"

"CASE, buddy, why'd you not wake us up?" Cooper walked toward TARS.

"I never sensed anything or anyone entering into our atmosphere, Cooper." Cooper walked away from TARS and over to CASE.

"CASE, please show me the live feed of what's going on just outside." A woman stood at their door dressed in a high-tech spacesuit with a NASA emblem on the front. Cooper smiled to himself. "Amelia, you might wanna get out of bed." She took that as a good sign and rushed to him. He motioned for them to walk toward the door. Amelia watched nervously as Cooper's finger pressed the button, and as the door began to slide up, her and Cooper saw two feet back away.

"Dr. Brand, Captain Cooper, I've waited so long to meet you both."

**END OF PART I**


End file.
